No. 16 Duke Cruises Past No. 51 Elon, 6-1

Wednesday, March 7

Durham, N.C.

2 p.m.

Duke University

Elon

No. 16 Duke Cruises Past No. 51 Elon, 6-1

3/7/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. - Sixteenth-ranked Duke defeated No. 51 Elon, 6-1, on Wednesday afternoon at Ambler Tennis Stadium, as the Blue Devils handed the Phoenix their second loss of the season. Duke improves to 5-2 (0-0 ACC) on the season, while Elon falls to 9-2 (1-0 SoCon).

The Blue Devils swept the doubles point, as the Duke duo of sophomore Kiril Dimitrov and junior Alex Stone posted a quick win at the No. 3 spot, defeating Sebastian Bredberg and Kyle Smialek, 8-1, before freshman Dylan Arnould and senior Peter Rodrigues combined for an 8-3 victory over Gustaf Asplund and Austin Fenn at the No. 2 spot to clinch the doubles point.

The 11th-ranked Blue Devil tandem of senior Joey Atas and junior David Goulet followed up with a win at the No. 1 position, as the duo posted an 8-4 victory over Damon Gooch and Mason Schermerhorn to improve to 6-2 on the season.
Singles action saw Elon post the first win to knot the score at one apiece, as Gooch defeated 95th-ranked Atas, 6-1, 6-4, at the No. 1 slot.

Goulet then picked up his sixth singles victory of the year, with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Bredberg at No. 3, to put Duke on top, 2-1. Goulet is 6-1 on the season and has not lost a match since Feb. 2.

No. 63 Rodrigues defeated Schermerhorn, 7-6, 6-1, at No. 2 singles to give Duke it's third point, before 98th-ranked Arnould came away with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Fenn at the No. 4 spot to clinch the win for Duke.

Duke would win out the final two matches to push the final score to 6-1 in favor of the Blue Devils, as freshman Aaron Carpenter defeated Kevin Beard, 6-0, 6-2, at No. 6, and Dimitrov defeated Asplund, 6-3, 6-0, at No. 4.

“It was good to be back on the courts today and it was great to get a win,” said Duke head coach Jay Lapidus. “Our guys played hard and Elon's guys played hard. I thought our guys executed at crucial points in matches to get wins and we'll look to carry that into the matches over the next week and into ACC play.”

The Blue Devils will next travel to Texas, where they will face No. 13 Texas (March 10), No. 35 Texas A&M (March 12) and No. 66 TCU (March 14) during their spring trip. Duke will then begin ACC action, as the Blue Devils travel to No. 20 Clemson (March 24) and No. 44 Georgia Tech (March 25). The Blue Devils return home on March 28 and March 30, as they host No. 52 N.C. State and No. 31 Florida State, respectively.

Complete Results - # 16 Duke (D) 6, # 51 Elon (E) 1
March 7, 2007
Ambler Tennis Stadium
Durham, N.C.

Singles
1. Damon Gooch (E) def. #95 Joey Atas (D) 6-1, 6-4
2. #63 Peter Rodrigues (D) def. Mason Schermerhorn (E) 7-6, 6-1
3. David Goulet (D) def. Sebastian Bredberg (E) 6-2, 6-2
4. #36 Kiril Dimitrov (D) def. Gustaf Asplund (E) 6-3, 6-0
5. #98 Dylan Arnould (D) def. Austin Fenn (E) 7-5, 6-2
6. Aaron Carpenter (D) def. Kevin Beard (E) 6-0, 6-2
Order of finish: 1,3,2,5*,6, 4

Doubles
1. #11 J. Atas/D. Goulet (D) def. D. Gooch/M. Schermerhorn (E) 8-4
2. D. Arnould/P. Rodrigues (D) def. G. Asplund/A. Fenn (E) 8-3
3. K. Dimitrov/Alex Stone (D) def. S. Bredberg/Kyle Smialek (E) 8-1
Order of finish: 3,2*,1

* indicates clincher

No. 16 Duke 5-4 (0-0 ACC)
No. 51 Elon 9-2 (1-0 SoCon)

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