With a challenging indoor season behind them, Duke can regroup by moving to the outdoor courts in a double-header against in-state foes.
The No. 25 Blue Devils takes on North Carolina A&T for the first time in program history, making their spring debut at Ambler Stadium at 10 a.m. before welcoming Charlotte for a 3 p.m. contest Saturday. The weekend marks the Blue Devils’ opening weekend of the outdoor season, two weeks before ACC play begins.
Duke struggled throughout the indoor season, winning just one of its seven final matches, six of which were against top-50 teams. As a result of the difficult slate, the Blue Devils failed to qualify for last weekend's ITA Team Indoor Championships for the first time in six seasons.
“Tennis is really an outdoor sport, and ACC season is outdoor tennis,” Duke head coach Ramsey Smith said. “Typically, we’ve played well outside—we’ve got a beautiful outdoor facility—and it’s just nicer to play outside, so…[we’re] looking forward to playing outside this weekend.”
Duke had a chance to reach the ITA Team Indoor Championships after California could not travel to Durham for regional competition due to winter weather, but the Blue Devils dropped a 4-2 decision to then-No. 19 San Diego Jan. 24, giving the Toreros the bid and leaving Duke empty-handed.
Smith's squad appeared to get back on track with a road win at Tennessee, but any hopes of ending the indoor season on a high note were dashed with a 7-0 loss at Michigan two days later and another setback last weekend, a 4-3 loss to Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn.
“It was a bad weekend [against the Commodores]. We didn’t play well, we didn’t compete our best,” Smith said. “I don’t know if guys were just bummed out that we weren’t at [ITA] Indoors. We were really a couple points away from making it—from beating San Diego and making it—but we didn’t handle it well, didn’t play well, didn’t compete well and we’re looking to change that.”
Duke’s first chance to redeem itself will be against the Aggies. North Carolina A&T (0-5) has been shut out in two of its five losses but did secure a point against then-No. 9 North Carolina in a 6-1 loss Jan. 16. The Tar Heel matchup marked the Aggies’ last time traveling away from home—where they played and lost their next four before heading to Durham.
North Carolina A&T head coach Richard Akande coached Blue Devil sophomore Andrew DeJoy prior to his college career. Akande coached the Greensboro, N.C., native as well as hundreds of other youth players before taking the head coaching position with the Aggies last season.
“[Akande’s] a really good coach in the Greensboro area, and he’s worked with a lot of really good players,” Ramsey said. “[We’re] excited to be playing them for the first time ever. Obviously, I don’t know a whole lot about their team having not played them before but I know Richard’s doing a good job and it’ll be fun to play them.”
Duke may not have had a successful end to the indoor season, but the squad did manage to snap a five-match streak of doubles-point losses with wins on courts two and three to jump out to a 1-0 advantage against Vanderbilt. Smith said part of the success may have stemmed from a change in the Blue Devils' doubles pairings as Duke got wins from the tandem of senior Daniel McCall and freshman Jason Lapidus in addition to the team of sophomore Nicolas Alvarez and freshman Ryan Dickerson.
“We had to do something—we had lost so many doubles points in a row, and [changing doubles teams] worked,” Smith said. “it’s not like those new teams are set in stone, and we have a lot of good doubles players and a lot of possible pairings, but we’ll just have to see how things go—but I was pleased with our doubles.”
The other advantage Duke has despite a troubling indoor season is dual match experience, something its second Saturday opponent has yet to acquire to the same extent.
The 49ers (1-0) postponed both of their scheduled matches following a 4-3 home win against Campbell to open their campaign, bringing them into Saturday’s contest with just one match under their belt. Charlotte has suffered shutout losses in all four of its previous encounters with the Blue Devils.
Duke returns to play at home for its first match since Jan. 31, though, setting foot onto the outdoor courts this time around. The beginning of the outdoor season allows the Blue Devils both a break from the top-notch competition of the past few weeks and a chance to regroup.
“It’s nice, we’re going to get to play a lot of tennis in one day, playing two matches a day for the next two Saturdays,” Smith said. “A lot of different guys will get the opportunity to play and hopefully it’s a great opportunity to get out there, compete and get some wins under our belt.”
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