With a young team only seven matches into their spring season, the Blue Devils are searching for an identity.
Looking to establish some consistency, No. 25 Duke will head to Nashville, Tenn., to take on Vanderbilt Saturday at noon at the Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center. After Winter Storm Jonas canceled their match against California Jan. 23, the Blue Devils added the Commodores to their schedule last week and will head back on the road trying to get back on track.
Duke (2-5) split its first road matches of the spring last weekend, earning a 4-3 win at Tennessee Friday before suffering a 7-0 loss at Michigan Sunday, their fifth defeat in six matches. But the Blue Devils are hoping to flip the script Saturday against Vanderbilt (3-2).
“We have been just a couple of points short in a lot of matches,” Duke head coach Ramsey Smith said. “Against Michigan, we played a little discouraged at times. They did a good job of taking it to us and we didn’t really respond the way I wanted to. But it’s a fresh week and we’ve also had a good week of practice. We’re looking forward to a good weekend."
The ability to stay positive and remain confident will be a very valuable skill for a young Duke squad that plays three freshmen in its starting lineup. The team has shown flashes of brilliance at times, but suffered three straight close home losses against ranked opponents in January.
Senior Josh Levine knows what it is like to handle the season's ups and downs. And with two singles titles and 80 career victories under his belt, Levine also knows how to right the ship and get back to winning.
“We’re definitely feeling confident and positive,” Levine said. “We’ve had a couple tough losses by only a few points. These have been tight matches with top schools. It’s not all negative. We’ve been competing amazingly, but it’s just unfortunate we haven’t come away with the wins."
Duke is off to its slowest start during Levine's career in Durham, but he, junior T.J. Pura and sophomore Nicolas Alvarez will be tasked with rallying the troops. The Blue Devil freshmen—Catalin Mateas, Vincent Lin, Adrian Chamdani and Ryan Dickerson—are a combined 12-8 in dual match action, and Duke has struggled in doubles play, dropping the match's opening point in their last five duals.
“It’s really all new to the freshmen, and they don’t know about the ups and downs the season brings,” Levine said. “It’s huge that we keep the freshmen positive and motivated and always looking in the right direction. It’s always easy to get down after a tough loss, but the most important thing is about the process and letting the freshmen know that one match doesn’t determine the season. The big things are looking at how hard you’re going to work in practice, what you’re going to do to improve and how you’re going to get better next time."
Lin, who turned in the winningest fall campaign this year, has made the most out of Smith’s and Levine’s advice. The Schaumburg, Ill., native has prepared a positive mindset along with a revised game plan going into Saturday’s match in Nashville.
“I feel that if we just bring the energy to Vanderbilt, we can have the win,” Lin said. “We just have to know in our heads that we can win this. Even with a couple of losses at the beginning of this season, we can still get this one. I’m really just trying to be more aggressive and get to the net more than I have in previous matches. I’m trying to feel good out there.”
Vanderbilt is also looking to turn things around after dropping its last two matches to Memphis in a 5-2 defeat and against Harvard in a 4-3 loss. Sophomore Daniel Valent boasts a 15-3 overall record—including a 5-1 overall against ranked opponents—and is undefeated on court one with four wins. Valent will likely match up with Alvarez in the match's most anticipated contest.
“There’s been a lot of good from each guy individually, but we haven’t strung it together and we haven’t shown it every single match," Smith said. "This team is figuring out its identity. The most important thing is that we focus on ourselves to play our best. Vanderbilt is very strong up top. Playing on their home court will be tough, so the biggest challenge will be with each guy sticking with his individual game plan going into the match and executing.”
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