No. 6 Duke Takes Down Rival No. 12 North Carolina 4-3

Wednesday, April 12

Durham, N.C.

4 p.m.

Duke University

North Carolina

Atas and Goulet In Championship Match at Southern Intercollegiate Championships

No. 6 Duke Takes Down Rival No. 12 North Carolina 4-3

4/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

Durham, N.C. - No. 6 Duke jumped out to a 3-0 lead in their match against No. 12 North Carolina on Wednesday at Ambler Tennis Stadium and went on to win 4-3 for their eighth victory over a top-25 team this season.

The Blue Devils now stand at 8-1 in the ACC and 16-5 overall with two regular season contests remaining while the Tar Heels drop to 21-3 and 6-3 in league play.

Duke took the early lead in the match by winning two of the three doubles contests. The Blue Devils pulled off an upset at the No. 1 position with No. 50 Joey Atas and Jonathan Stokke claiming an 8-4 win over No. 6 Raian Luchici and Brad Pomeroy. Atas and Stokke improved to 7-2 in conference play, 12-5 in dual matches and 23-8 overall. Duke then followed the victory up with a win at No. 2. The 57th-ranked pairing of Stephen Amritraj and Peter Rodrigues defeated Lenny Gullan and David Stone 8-5. Amritraj and Rodrigues have only lost one ACC match this season as they are now 8-1 in league play. They are 11-5 at the No. 2 spot. The No. 3 match was the last to finish as North Carolina's Sebastian Guejman and Derek Porter edged out Ned Samuelson and Ludovic Walter in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (5).

No. 70 Rodrigues was the first Blue Devil to finish in singles as he handed Derek Porter a 6-1, 6-3 loss to post his 12th straight win. He has only lost one dual match this year and sits at 19-1, including a 16-1 mark when playing in the third spot. He is 8-1 in ACC matches and 25-7 on the year. Amritraj improved to 3-2 in the conference with a straight set win over Will Plyler in the sixth hole 6-1, 6-3. The win gave Duke a 3-0 lead in the match, one win shy of clinching the victory.

Duke received that match-clinching point from Atas in the fourth slot. Atas lost the first set in a tiebreaker to Porter 6-7 (5) but was able to bounce back with a pair of 6-1 wins in the final two sets to give the Blue Devils the win. Atas is now 6-2 in his first season in the ACC and 11-6 in dual matches.

The Tar Heels got on the board with Benjamin Carlotti's straight set win over No. 111 Kiril Dimitrov in the No. 5 match 7-5, 6-3. North Carolina also pulled off upsets in the top two singles matches. No. 18 Luchici fought off No. 4 Walter in a close match at No. 1. The two sets went down to the wire with Luchici coming out on top in both 7-6 (3), 7-5. Walter suffered just his fifth loss of the dual season. He is now 15-5 in duals and 7-2 in the ACC. At No. 2 Pomeroy came back after dropping the first set 4-6 to win in a tiebreaker in the second set 7-6 (3) over No. 37 Stokke. Pomeroy went on to win 6-3 in the final set to bring the final score to 4-3.

The win brings Duke to a tie with North Carolina in the Carlyle Cup race at 10-10. The Blue Devils have rallied after trailing 10-6 following the winter season to earn four straight points. The Tar Heels gained the lead by taking seven of the eight points in the winter. The next point will be awarded at the women's golf ACC Championships April 14-16. The Carlyle Cup race is a yearlong competition between the Duke and North Carolina athletic departments sponsored by Carlyle & Co. of Greensboro, N.C.

The Blue Devils will bring the regular season to a close this weekend with a pair of ACC matches. They will square off against No. 57 Virginia Tech at home on Friday at 2:30 p.m. They will then host No. 11 Virginia on senior day at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

April 12, 2006 - Durham, N.C. (4:00 p.m.)
Ambler Tennis Stadium

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No. 6 Duke
4

vs.

No. 12 North Carolina
3

Singles
1.		1	2	3
Duke	#4 Ludovic Walter	6	5	-
UNC	#18 Raian Luchici	7	7	-
2.		1	2	3
Duke	#37 Jonathan Stokke	6	6	3
UNC	Brad Pomeroy	4	7	6
3.		1	2	3
Duke	#70 Peter Rodrigues	6	6	-
UNC	Derek Porter	1	3	-
4.		1	2	3
Duke	Joey Atas	6	6	6*
UNC	Sebastian Guejman	7	1	1
5.		1	2	3
Duke	#111 Kiril Dimitrov	5	3	-
UNC	Benjamin Carlotti	7	6	-
6.		1	2	3
Duke	Stephen Amritraj	6	6	-
UNC	Will Plyler	1	3	-

Doubles
1.		1
Duke	#50 Atas & Stokke	8
UNC	#6 Luchici & Pomeroy	4
2.		1
Duke	#57 Amritraj & Rodrigues	8*
UNC	Gullan & Stone	5
3.		1
Duke	Samuelson & Walter	8
UNC	Guejman & Porter	9