Duke Makes Clean Sweep of Saturday Doubleheader

Saturday, February 20

Durham, N.C.

10:00 AM

Duke University

NC A&T

Blue Devils Welcome Four in ITA Kick-Off Weekend

Duke Makes Clean Sweep of Saturday Doubleheader

2/20/2016 7:10:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – The No. 33 Duke men's tennis team enjoyed its new surroundings Saturday, sweeping its doubleheader during its first outdoor matches of the campaign. The Blue Devils (4-6) rolled past NC A&T and Charlotte by 7-0 scores at Ambler Tennis Stadium with sophomore Nicolas Alvarez earning the clinching point in both contests.

“It's a big step forward today,” Alvarez said. “We hadn't been playing great the last couple of matches. These matches, even though they weren't against top 20 teams, still can give us confidence to move forward. We're treating every match as if it was a final. I think that's our main focus from now to the end of the season – treating every match as if it was the last match of the season. If we can keep doing that, we'll end up having great results.”

With the two victories, Duke improved to 21-1 during head coach Ramsey Smith's seven-plus years against North Carolina schools that are not in the ACC. Smith also captured his 155th and 156th career victories as the head coach. He trails Steve Strome (1983-90/159) by three for third on the Blue Devil all-time list.

“We competed better and it all starts with that,” Smith said. “We got everyone's best effort from the very beginning. That leads to us playing better tennis. I think the first match was good for us and gave us some confidence we carried over into the second match. To go through the day without losing a match in singles or doubles [is nice]. We were pushed in some areas in the second match in singles and were able to get the win. That's certainly going to help us. Overall it's a big step forward for us and we hope to continue the momentum throughout the week.”

In the match against A&T, Duke captured the doubles point for the second straight match with 6-0 wins on all three courts. The sweep began on court two as freshmen Vincent Lin and Catalin Mateas topped Kyle Scott and Brett Caban.

A minute later, court three finished with senior Daniel McCall and freshman Jason Lapidus recording the victory against John Wilson IV and Arnau Arimon.

The Blue Devils finished doubles on court one as Alvarez and freshman Ryan Dickerson tallied their second straight win, downing Nicolas Ardur and Dreshaun Jarmon.

Duke continued to pile up points in singles, the second coming court two, where No. 91 Mateas downed Scott, 6-0, 6-0.

Duke's third point came from Lin, who earned a 6-1, 6-1 win on court four against Jarmon. Lin lost the first game of each set before winning six straight.

Clinching the match for the Blue Devils was Alvarez on court one, where he downed Caban 6-0, 6-2. Alvarez won 10 straight games before Caban made the second set a 4-1 lead. No. 17 Alvarez won two of the final three games to earn his second clinching point of the year.

Dickerson made it a 5-0 advantage with a 6-1, 6-0 win on court three against Ardur. The two were tied at 1-1 in the opening set before Dickerson ripped off 11 consecutive victories to end the match.

Earning his first triumph of the year was sophomore Andrew DeJoy on court six. DeJoy earned a 6-2, 6-1 win against Arimon. DeJoy dropped the first two games of the opening set before going on an eight game run to go up 2-0 in the second set. Arimon got a win for a 2-1 deficit, but DeJoy won four straight to end the match.

Finishing the match was McCall on court six, as he downed Wilson IV 6-1, 6-2. McCall took a 5-0 lead in the first set before finishing it off. In the second set, McCall was up 3-0 before extending the advantage to 5-1. Wilson IV recorded one more victory, but McCall held on his serve to end the match.

During the afternoon match against Charlotte in doubles, Lin and Mateas picked up the first decision with a 6-2 win against Carl Solik and Josh Aubrey on court two. The Duke duo broke in the opening game and held to go up 2-0. Charlotte got a game back and the two traded service holds until the Blue Devils led 4-2. Duke then broke again and held to end the set. Lin and Mateas upped their record to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in dual matches.

Seconds later, the court three combination of McCall and Lapidus earned their second win of the day, downing Sam Rice and Oriol Puig, 6-2. The two teams were on serve with Duke leading 3-2, when a break, hold and break ended the set. McCall and Lapidus improved to 3-0, with all the decisions during dual matches.

Duke finished the doubles sweep on court one, where Alvarez and Dickerson topped Vikram Hundal and Jordi Massalle Ferrer, 5-4 (5). The Blue Devils got a break in the second game to go up 3-0. Charlotte answered with four wins in the next five games to even the set at 4-4. With the doubles point already determined, the teams played a first-to-seven tiebreaker to end the match. Duke got out to a 2-0 lead in the tiebreaker before Charlotte rattled off four consecutive points. The Blue Devils answered and won four straight points to go up 6-4. The 49ers got one back to trail 6-5, but the Charlotte return on Dickerson's serve sailed into the net to end the match. Alvarez and Dickerson are 3-0, all in dual matches.

In singles, Mateas continued his roll, winning 6-2, 6-1 on court two against Massalle Ferrer. Mateas led 3-0 in the opening set before Massalle Ferrer was able to make it a 4-2 deficit. Mateas held and broke to end the set. In the second, Mateas led 5-0 before putting it away. Mateas is now 7-3, all in dual matches.

Adding Duke's third point was Dickerson on court five, where he topped Puig, 6-0, 6-1. Dickerson won 10 straight games before Puig made the second set 4-1. Dickerson took the last two to end the match. He upped his overall record to 6-6 and 4-1 in dual matches.

Alvarez clinched his second match of the day with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Hundal on court one. In the opening set, Alvarez led 5-1 before closing it out. The second set had the two even 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3. Alvarez then broke and held to take a 5-3 advantage. Hundal got one back, but could not complete the comeback. Alvarez evened his overall record at 9-9 and mark in dual matches at 5-5.

The Blue Devils made it a 5-0 advantage as Lin finished off Rice 7-6 (3), 6-2 on court four. Lin fell behind 2-0 in the opening set before evening the action at 2-2. The two were tied at 3-3 and 4-4 but then Lin was broken and fell behind 5-4. He broke back to tie the set at 5-5. The two headed to the tiebreaker even at 6-6. The two were all square at 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3 in the tiebreaker. From there, Lin ripped off four straight points to end the set. In the second set, Lin got ahead 3-0 and did not look back en route to the victory. Lin earned his team best 13th win of the campaign and is now 13-11 overall and 5-5 in dual matches.

The sixth point came from court six, where McCall earned his second win of the day with a 6-5, 7-5 triumph against Jensen Martin. In the first set, the two exchanged two game swings. McCall led 2-0 and 4-2 but Martin evened it at 2-2 and 4-4. McCall captured the final two games to end the set. The second set had McCall fall behind 3-1 before closing the gap to 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4. He then used a late three game run to earn the win. McCall improved to 5-8 on the year and 2-1 in dual matches.

Duke finished the match on court three with a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (3) victory by freshman Adrian Chamdani against Alejandro Garcia Moreno. Chamdani breezed through the first set before Garcia Moreno jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set. Chamdani won three consecutive games to cut the deficit to 5-4, but Garcia Moreno won the final game. Chamdani again took a big lead in the third set, going up 3-0 before Garcia Moreno took three in a row to even the action. The two were even at 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6 and headed to the tiebreaker. Once in the tiebreaker, neither was able to gain a significant advantage as it was square at 1-1 before Chamdani won consecutive points to go up 3-1. He led 4-2 before Garcia Moreno made it a 4-3 tiebreaker. From there, Chamdani hammered a crosscourt winner to lead 5-3 and then took the final two points for the win. Chamdani lifted his record to 11-9 overall and 4-2 in dual matches.

Duke continues home action next Saturday, facing Coastal Carolina at 10 a.m. and welcoming Furman at 3 p.m. The contests will be the Blue Devils' last before ACC play begins.

#33 Duke 7, NC A&T 0
Feb. 20, 2016 at Durham, N.C. (Ambler Tennis Stadium)

Doubles competition
1. Nicolas Alvarez/Ryan Dickerson (DU) def. Nicolas Ardur/Dreshaun Jarmon (NCAT) 6-0
2. Vincent Lin/Catalin Mateas (DU) def. Kyle Scott/Brett Caban (NCAT) 6-0
3. Jason Lapidus/Daniel McCall (DU) def. John Wilson IV/Arnau Arimon (NCAT) 6-0

Singles competition
1. #17 Nicolas Alvarez (DU) def. Brett Caban (NCAT) 6-0, 6-2
2. #91 Catalin Mateas (DU) def. Kyle Scott (NCAT) 6-0, 6-0
3. Ryan Dickerson (DU) def. Nicolas Ardur (NCAT) 6-1, 6-0
4. Vincent Lin (DU) def. Dreshaun Jarmon (NCAT) 6-1, 6-1
5. Daniel McCall (DU) def. John Wilson IV (NCAT) 6-1, 6-2
6. Andrew DeJoy (DU) def. Arnau Arimon (NCAT) 6-2, 6-1

Match Notes:
North Carolina A&T 0-6
Duke 3-6; National ranking #33
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (2,4,1,3,6,5)
Official: Rod Realon
T-1:25 A-42

#33 Duke 7, Charlotte 0
Feb. 20, 2016 at Durham, N.C. (Ambler Tennis Stadium)

Doubles competition
1. 1. Nicolas Alvarez/Ryan Dickerson (DU) def. Vikram Hundal/Jordi Massalle Ferrer (CHA) 5-4 (7-5)
2. Vincent Lin/Catalin Mateas (DU) def. Carl Solik/Josh Aubrey (CHA) 6-2
3. Daniel McCall/Jason Lapidus (DU) def. Sam Rice/Oriol Puig (CHA) 6-2

Singles competition
1. #17 Nicolas Alvarez (DU) def. Vikram Hundal (CHA) 6-2, 6-4
2. #91 Catalin Mateas (DU) def. J. Massalle Ferrer (CHA) 6-2, 6-1
3. Adrian Chamdani (DU) def. Alejandro Garcia Moreno (CHA) def. 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (3)
4. Vincent Lin (DU) def. Sam Rice (CHA) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2
5. Ryan Dickerson (DU) def. Oriol Puig (CHA) 6-0, 6-1
6. Daniel McCall (DU) def. Jensen Martin (CHA) 6-4, 7-5

Match Notes:
Charlotte 1-1
Duke 4-6; National ranking #33
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (2,5,1,4,6,3)
Official: Tina Chandler
T-2:50 A-209

#GoDuke