No. 14 Duke concluded its 2023-24 regular season by splitting a pair of away matches against ranked ACC opponents this past weekend. The Blue Devils started off strong Friday with a dominant 4-1 victory against No. 7 Wake Forest, before falling to No. 16 N.C. State by a score of 4-2 Sunday. The loss to the Demon Deacons snapped a six-match winning streak for head coach Ramsey Smith’s squad, who finished their regular season with a strong 17-8 overall record and 9-3 in ACC play.
As has been the case this entire campaign, Duke (17-8, 9-3 in the ACC) relied on the lethal top-court pairing of senior Garrett Johns and sophomore Pedro Rodenas. The dynamic duo went undefeated across both singles and doubles, dropping only one combined set across the weekend. The performances of Johns and Rodenas were particularly impressive in the doubles phase of the Wake Forest encounter, where the third-ranked pair defeated Suresh Ekambaram and Holden Koons, the top-ranked doubles pair nationally, in a narrow tie-break to earn the opening point for the Blue Devils.
While both of Duke’s stars continued to shine against the Wolfpack (17-5, 10-2), the difference between the two matches ultimately came down to the rest of the supporting cast. While freshman Alexander Visser won a hard-fought match against Koons Friday, the Westport, Conn., native struggled mightily Sunday, losing 6-3, 6-2 to NC State’s Damien Salvestre. What’s more, the usually reliable pair of graduate students Andrew Zhang and Michael Heller delivered strong results against the Demon Deacons (26-5, 10-2), but did not find similar form against the Wolfpack. The duo lost the crucial doubles point 6-3 Sunday, before Zhang was handily dispatched 6-4, 6-2 by Luca Staeheli.
On the bright side, senior Faris Khan continued his strong run of form since being inserted into the starting singles lineup. The Delray Beach, Fla., native joined Rodenas as the only Blue Devil to emerge victorious in the N.C. State match, while performing strongly in an unfinished encounter with Wake Forest’s Luca Pow. Smith will hope Khan keeps up his performances as the team looks ahead to the postseason.
After a long and grueling but ultimately successful regular season, the Blue Devils will now set their sights on the ACC tournament in Cary, N.C., from April 19-21. The field is particularly stacked this year, with Wake Forest, N.C. State, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida State and Georgia Tech are all ranked within the top 30 nationally. After falling just short in a title-game defeat to the Cavaliers last year, Duke will hope to win its 13th ACC championship and first since 2006. Smith’s squad has both the talent and momentum to make a deep run in Cary, perhaps setting the foundation for an even more ambitious push in May.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.