Duke Impressive Against Top Opponent
By Dan Deng
Saturday night, No. 14 Duke hosted its toughest opponent of the young season, No. 3 Tennessee. The Blue Devils entered the matchup with a hot 7-1 start, with their only loss at No. 16 Illinois. However, Tennessee boasted a perfect 4-0 record.
The Blue Devils dropped all three doubles matches in disappointing fashion, losing the match 0-7 to the Volunteers. While they looked good at net, they lacked the speed the Tennessee players had when retrieving the ball. However, with multiple ranked players on both sides, the singles competition was bound to be the most exciting part of the contest.
Court 1 featured Duke’s Henrique Cunha taking on Tennessee’s John-Patrick Smith. This pitted the reigning ACC player of the year (Cunha) against the reigning SEC player of the year (Smith). While it seemed No. 23 Cunha would be a favorite over No. 23 Smith, that was not the case. Smith had been ranked as high as No. 2 in the country in years past and made the finals of the 2008 NCAA Singles Tournament. The match was neck-and-neck throughout; in a battle of lefties, the two players were evenly matched in terms of groundstrokes. Both pounded in an impressive number of winners from the baseline, while committing a similar number of unforced errors.
The biggest difference was in the serves and volleys. The 6-2 Smith would place extreme kick on his serve to make it difficult for the 5-10 Cunha to return. While Henrique had a several nice volley winners, Smith in general had no problem passing him at net. Smith was again able to take advantage of Cunha’s lack of height by hitting several beautiful lobs over Cunha’s head.
Smith won the first set 7-5. Nonetheless, Cunha displayed excellent composure and fought back, winning the second set 7-6. However, Cunha lost the third-set tiebreaker 8-10. This was the last match to finish.
In terms of pure prestige, Court 2 was the place to be. Duke’s fifth ranked Reid Carlton faced a formidable opponent in Rhyne Williams, the nations top ranked player. Right from the start, Williams demonstrated why he was top dog by ripping unbelievably powerful groundstrokes from both wings. It became clear that Carlton would never be able to outhit him, so Carlton tried to win with consistency and strategy. He hustled to return every shot, and caused Williams to hit a few unforced errors. Carlton dropped the first set 6-7, came back to win the second 7-6, and then lost the tiebreak 6-10.
The other relatively close match was on Court 3, where Duke freshman Chris Mengel (No. 113) played Tennessee’s Tennys Sangren (talk about interesting names, Tennys playing tennis for Tennessee). Sangren seemed to have the match clinched, having won the first set and 5-2 in the second. Chris fought hard and smacked several forehand winners to win the second set. Ultimately, it was Mengel’s difficulties at net that hurt him. He fell in the tiebreaker 8-10.
Duke lost all seven singles matches, with Fred Saba finishing first and Cunha last.
After the match, Duke freshman Cale Hammond and senior Reid Carlton credited Tennessee’s experience as the difference in the match. Tennessee as a team made the finals of last years’ NCAA Championship. Hammond also noted that the Blue Devils could have better taken advantage of the swing in momentum. Several Duke players won their second sets after dropping their first, but failed to win the third set tiebreak.
Next weekend, the Blue Devils will travel to Seattle, Washington to compete in the ITA National Team Indoors.
Results
Tennessee vs Duke
Feb. 12, 2011 at Durham, N.C.
#3 Tennessee 7, #14 Duke 0
Doubles
1. Boris Conkic/John-Patrick Smith (UT) def. #12 Reid Carleton/Henrique Cunha (DU) 8-4
2. Jared Pinsky/Fred Saba (DU) vs. Tennys Sandgren/Rhyne Williams (UT) 6-7, unfinished
3. Matteo Fago/Edward Jones (UT) def. David Holland/Chris Mengel (DU) 8-3
Singles
1. #21 John-Patrick Smith (UT) def. #9 Henrique Cunha (DU) 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 1-0 (10-8)
2. #1 Rhyne Williams (UT) def. #5 Reid Carleton (DU) 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 1-0 (10-6)
3. Tennys Sandgren (UT) def. Chris Mengel (DU) 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 1-0 (10-8)
4. #38 Matteo Fago (UT) def. Fred Saba (DU) 6-4, 6-3
5. Boris Conkic (UT) def. Jared Pinsky (DU) 6-4, 6-4
6. Edward Jones (UT) def. Luke Marchese (DU) 7-5, 2-6, 6-3
Match Notes:
Tennessee 5-0; National ranking #3
Duke 7-2; National ranking #14
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (4,5,6,2,3,1)