Completed Event: Men's Tennis versus #21 University of Southern California on May 1, 2026 , Loss , 2, to, 4
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Final
Men's Tennis
2
vs #21 University of Southern California
4
Blue Devils Close Regular Season This Weekend
4/16/2015 9:17:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Match 25
No. 8 Duke (20-4, 7-3 ACC) at No. 30 Louisville (23-6, 7-4 ACC)
Friday, April 17 l 4 p.m. ET
Louisville, Ky. | Bass-Rudd Tennis Center
Live Stats | Twitter
Match 26
No. 8 Duke (20-4, 7-3 ACC) at Georgia Tech (11-10, 3-7 ACC)
Sunday, April 19 l 12 p.m. ET
Atlanta, Ga. | Ken Byers Tennis Complex
Live Stats | Live Video | Twitter
DURHAM, N.C. – It's the last weekend of the regular season for the No. 8 Duke men's tennis team (20-4, 7-3 ACC), which will try to secure a top-three finish in the ACC standings and clinch a bye for the league tournament. The ACC Tournament will run from April 23-26 in Cary, N.C., at the Cary Tennis Park.
This weekend, the Blue Devils will travel to No. 30 Louisville (23-6, 7-4 ACC) on Friday and Georgia Tech (11-10, 3-7 ACC) on Sunday. Duke will start at 4 p.m. ET Friday and 12 p.m. Sunday.
Louisville Series History
Duke and Louisville will be meeting for the first time in a dual match format Friday ... The teams played on Jan. 8 in Honolulu as part of the Rainbow Warrior Classic, with Duke tallying 15 wins against the Cardinals … The squads played eight doubles matches and eight singles matches in Hawai'i … Highlighting the early season competition was senior Jason Tahir's 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory against then No. 1 Sebastian Stiefelmeyer … Tahir was ranked No. 36 heading into the match … Also in singles, freshman Nicolas Alvarez, then ranked 18th, downed No. 59 Albert Wagner 6-4, 6-2.
Scouting The Cardinals
Stiefelmeyer, a senior who is now ranked No. 7, has been the Cardinals' top player all season, posting a 38-5 record with a 20-2 mark in dual matches, all at the No. 1 position … Wagner, a senior ranked No. 100, and junior Alex Gornet have split time at No. 2 and No. 3 this year with Wagner 29-12 overall and Gornet at 25-10 … Also playing No. 3 has been senior Chris Simich, who is 26-9 overall and 6-0 in the third slot … In doubles, junior Jeffrey Brown and Gornet have been the top team, and are ranked No. 72, with a 16-3 mark and 9-1 record in the top spot … Stiefelmeyer and Wagner have paired to go 4-2 in league matches in the No. 2 slot while Simich and Stiefelmeyer are 4-1 overall, all at No. 3.
Smith's Take On Louisville
“The overall match is going to be very tough,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “Louisville is a very good team. Stiefelmeyer has stepped up this year. He's always been a good college player, but he has made a huge jump this year and established himself as one of the top players in the country. They play well at home and it's their senior day. They have six seniors so they are going to be fired up. We'll have to be ready for that.”
Georgia Tech Series History
Duke leads the all-time series with the Yellow Jackets, which began in 1939, 44-14 … The teams have met once a year since 1980, when Georgia Tech joined the ACC … Duke has won the last 12 matches, and 30 of the last 31 … The Blue Devils' last loss to the Yellow Jackets was on April 20, 2002, with the last loss in Atlanta on March 9, 1988 … A year ago, Duke swept with singles wins from current Blue Devils Tahir, Raphael Hemmeler, Bruno Semenzato, Josh Levine and TJ Pura.
Scouting The Yellow Jackets
Freshman Christopher Eubanks, ranked No. 62, has played in the No. 1 and No. 2 singles spots for the majority of the year, going 23-16 overall, 6-7 in the top slot and 7-1 at No. 2 … Junior Nathan Rakitt has also been at No. 1, going 3-3 there, and at No. 2, where he is 1-4 … Five players have been in the third singles position with sophomore Carlos Benito having the best record there at 4-1 … In doubles, Benito and senior Eduardo Segura are ranked No. 88 and have the most wins on the squad with a 16-13 mark … The pair has gone 9-5 in the No. 1 spot … Eubanks and freshman Michael Kay are 12-9 overall, 2-3 at No. 1 and 5-4 in the No. 2 spot.
The Third-Best Start For Duke
Duke's 20-4 record is tied for the third-best 24-match mark in program history, trailing only the 1982 and 2001 teams that began the year 21-3 … Two more victories for this year's team would tie it for ninth on the program's single-season wins chart … The Blue Devil record for wins in a season is 31 in 1982.
The 20th Ranked Foe Of The Year
Duke will play its 20th ranked opponent of the season Friday against No. 30 Louisville … This spring, the Blue Devils have played 79.2 percent of their matches against ranked opponents … Duke owns 15 wins against ranked teams, tied for 10th on the single-season top-10 chart in program history … The Blue Devil record for wins against ranked foes is 23 in 1999.
Aiming For ACC Win No. 8
The Blue Devils will be looking for their eighth ACC regular-season win this weekend … Duke has tallied at least eight league victories in each of the last five campaigns, its longest stretch since a seven-year run from 1997-2003 … The Blue Devils have finished no worse than tied for second in the league standings in each of the last five seasons.
Hemmeler Continues Plowing Through The ACC
Hemmeler enters this weekend riding a nine-match winning streak in ACC matches … After suffering a league-opening 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 3-6 setback to Hunter Koontz of Virginia Tech, Hemmeler has not lost, winning three matches in three sets and six in straight sets … Hemmeler's nine match winning streak during spring dual matches is the longest by a Blue Devil since Pura won 10 consecutive decisions from Feb. 9 – April 25, 2014 … The nine match run through the league is tied with Luke Marchese (2010), Fred Saba (2012) and Henrique Cunha (2013) for the longest by a Duke player in program history.
Once But Not Twice
Duke avoided a losing streak in ACC action Sunday by beating No. 33 Florida State after falling at No. 16 North Carolina on Thursday … The Blue Devils have not lost consecutive league matches since April 3 and April 5, 2009 … Duke has only done so twice under Smith, on April 3 and 5, 2009, and March 20 and 22, 2009 … In all matches, Duke has suffered just six streaks of two or more consecutive losses in the six-plus seasons under Smith, and just one since the start of the 2012 campaign.
Smith Nears No. 150
Entering this weekend, Smith owns 148 career wins as Duke's head coach … He is two victories shy of becoming the fourth Blue Devil head coach to reach the 150-win plateau, joining John LeBar (1971-82/184-88 record), Steve Strome (1983-90/160-70) and Jay Lapidus (1991-2008/373-127) … Smith will likely be the second-fastest Duke coach to reach 150 wins as Lapidus took 193 matches, Strome 216 and LeBar 236 … Smith has coached 199 matches at Duke entering this week … In Smith's career at Duke, as a player from 1998-2001, as an assistant and associate head coach from 2006-08 and as head coach starting in 2009, the Blue Devils have gone 293-103 (.740 winning percentage) in dual matches.
Blue Devils in the ITA Rankings
Duke holds the No. 8 spot in this week's team rankings … The Blue Devils have been in the top 12 every week of the season, and within the top five for four weeks … Individually, Alvarez at No. 11 holds the highest ranking on the team ... The Lima, Peru, native owns a 29-8 record this year ... Tahir is the second ranked Blue Devil, at No. 51 … The Rochester, N.Y., product is 22-16 in 2014-15 with six wins against nationally ranked opponents … Rounding out the singles rankings is No. 59 Hemmeler … The senior from Zurich, Switzerland, owns a Duke-high 33 wins and is 19-3 in dual matches with a 9-1 mark in ACC play … The doubles team of Alvarez and Hemmeler, 15-8 overall, is No. 14.
Last Time Out
The Blue Devils sent their four players exhausting their eligibility this spring out in style with a 7-0 sweep of No. 33 Florida State last Sunday, allowing Duke to finish the regular season undefeated at home at 14-0 … In doubles, the Blue Devils took the point with wins on courts two and three … Duke won the first match on three with sophomore Pura and junior Semenzato topping Terrance Whitehurst and Terrell Whitehurst, 8-2 … The Blue Devils finished the point with a victory on court two, where junior Levine and Tahir defeated Michael Rinaldi and Cristian Gonzalez Mendez, 8-6 … In singles, Duke took a 2-0 lead as redshirt senior Chris Mengel downed Jose Gracia, 7-5, 6-2 on court five … The Blue Devils pushed the lead to 3-0 with an Alvarez 7-5, 6-3 victory against Benjamin Lock on court one … Duke got the clinching point on court two from Tahir, who topped Rinaldi, 6-4, 6-3 … On court six, the Blue Devils made it a 5-0 advantage after Pura defeated Terrell Whitehurst, 6-3, 6-4 … Duke earned its sixth point on court four with a Semenzato 7-5, 6-7 (3), 1-0 (1) victory against Gonzalez Mendez … The Blue Devils finished the sweep on court three with No. 58 Hemmeler earning his ninth straight victory, downing Marco Nunez, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
Be On The Lookout For
Hemmeler owns 114 career singles wins, the fourth most for any Duke player and four victories behind Smith (1998-2001) for third on the all-time chart … Mengel's 106 wins are the ninth most while Tahir's 102 are tied for 13th with Reid Carleton (2008-11) … The Blue Devils' all-time leader in singles wins is Cunha (2010-13) with 151 … Hemmeler's 33 wins this season are one shy of the program's single-season record chart … Hemmeler's nine ACC wins this year are tied for sixth on the Duke single-season league victory chart … Tahir owns that mark with 11 ACC wins in 2013 … Alvarez's 28 wins are one short of entering the Duke top-10 chart for victories by a freshman … Hemmeler's 112 career doubles wins are one shy of current Duke assistant coach Jonathan Stokke (2003-06) for fourth on the program's all-time list … Mengel's 93 career doubles wins are tied with Rob Chess (1993-96) for 10th on the all-time Blue Devil list … Cunha also owns the top mark for doubles wins with 147 … Hemmeler's 27 ACC doubles wins are tied for the third most in program history, one behind Stokke for second … Tahir's 24 ACC doubles wins are tied for the ninth most at Duke … Cunha also owns that mark with 35 league doubles victories … Hemmeler's 32 ACC singles wins are the third most in program history, Tahir's 30 are the fifth most and Mengel's 29 are tied for the sixth most … Saba (2011-14) owns the program's career ACC singles wins mark with 35.
Up Next
Duke will head to the ACC Tournament in Cary … If the Blue Devils secure a top-three seed, they will receive a bye and begin the tournament at 9 a.m. ET on Friday, April 24 … If Duke is the No. 4 or No. 5 seed for the event, it will play at 12 p.m. on Thursday, April 23.
#GoDuke
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