Duke Falls 4-3 to Georgia Tech in ACC Opener

Sunday, March 6

Durham, N.C.

12:00 PM

Duke University

Georgia Tech

Men?s Tennis Begins Fall Season This Weekend

Duke Falls 4-3 to Georgia Tech in ACC Opener

3/6/2016 3:39:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – It could not have been a closer ACC opener for the No. 57 Duke men's tennis team, which suffered a 4-3 setback to No. 34 Georgia Tech on Sunday inside Ambler Tennis Stadium. With the Blue Devils leading 3-1 after three straight singles wins, the Yellow Jackets answered with victories in the last three singles matches to take the contest.

Duke ended the 2015 ACC regular season with a 4-3 setback in Atlanta to Georgia Tech. For the second consecutive year, Carlos Benito tallied the winning point for the Yellow Jackets with a three-set victory on court two. In the 2015 meeting, Benito defeated Raphael Hemmeler 7-6 (11), 3-6, 6-3 for the win. This year, it was Benito coming back to down freshman Catalin Mateas 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 for the clinch.

“Georgia Tech is a very good team,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “I credit Georgia Tech for hanging in and battling back. I told our guys that it hurts to lose, but I was really proud of what I saw. As long as we keep our heads up and keep working, we're going to have our moment. It was a team effort and team loss today. Obviously that was a tough loss for us, but I saw a lot of positives.”

Georgia Tech (8-4, 1-1 ACC) took an early 1-0 lead with the doubles point from wins on courts one and three. The first decision was on court one, where Christopher Eubanks and Benito defeated sophomore Nicolas Alvarez and freshman Vincent Lin, 6-3. Eubanks and Benito broke early and took a 2-0 lead. Duke broke back and made it a 2-1 deficit, but Georgia Tech rallied with consecutive wins to go up 4-1. The Blue Devils got as close as 4-2 and 5-3, but Eubanks served out for the victory. Alvarez and Lin fall to 4-4 overall, all in dual matches on court one.

On court three, Duke freshmen Ryan Dickerson and Mateas led 3-0 before Georgia Tech's tandem of Andrew Li and Nathan Rakitt ran off six straight wins to take the match. Dickerson and Mateas were playing together for the first time.

The court two match was halted with Georgia Tech's Casey Kay and Michael Kay leading Duke senior Daniel McCall and freshman Jason Lapidus 5-4. The teams were tied at each point and Duke was ahead in its service game 40-0 when the match was stopped.

Duke (6-7, 0-1 ACC) began its rally in singles with five first sets and three straight triumphs.

“Overall we did a great job rebounding from losing the doubles point,” Smith said. “We won five first sets. I thought we showed a lot of heart from start to finish.”

The first point for the Blue Devils came with a 6-2, 6-2 win by Lin against Li on court three. In the opening set, Lin turned a 2-1 deficit around with five straight wins to end the set. The second set may have been even more impressive as Lin trailed 2-0 before ripping off six consecutive wins for the victory. Lin has won five straight matches and upped his overall record to 16-11 and 8-5 in dual matches.

The Blue Devils took the lead at 2-1 with junior TJ Pura's 6-1, 6-3 victory against Cole Fiegel on court four. In the opening set, Pura jumped ahead 4-0 and never looked back. In the second set, he broke a 1-1 tie with a hold and break to go ahead 3-1. Fiegel narrowed the gap to 3-2, but Pura broke and held again to go up 5-2. Pura held on to win his second straight match and improve to 8-9 overall and 2-6 in dual matches.

Duke then pushed the lead to 3-1 with a late rally from McCall on court six as he topped Michael Kay, 6-4, 7-5. In the opening set, the two were tied at points one, two and three before McCall was broken and trailed 4-3. McCall answered immediately with a break and then held and broke again to end the set. In the second set, McCall dropped two games after a 2-2 tie to fall behind 4-2. The two traded games and McCall trailed 5-3, but he then went on a four game winning streak to end the match. It was McCall's break that evened the set at 5-5 that swung the momentum firmly in his favor. McCall extended his winning streak to four straight matches and is now 7-8 overall and 4-1 in dual matches.

“I'm really proud of Dan,” Smith said. “He has been super consistent this entire year. He has always been one of our hardest workers. I knew he could come in and win in doubles. It's a whole different thing that he has been able to come in and win in singles. What a big win in an ACC match that was for us. It's not just this match, but every time we've put him in he has been great. I'm really excited for Dan and that he's getting that feeling of contributing regularly. He is playing some clutch tennis.”

Georgia Tech cut the deficit to 3-2 as No. 12 Eubanks came back to down No. 15 Alvarez 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Alvarez jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead with a break in the opening set. Eubanks never got closer than one game the rest of the way, trailing 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4. Alvarez served out for the win in the first set. With the two tied 1-1 in the second set, Eubanks went on a three game run to go ahead 4-1. Alvarez got within two games, but never closer. The third set had Alvarez broken in the first game, but he answered with a break to tie it at 1-1. The two were tied at 2-2 when Eubanks broke and held to go up 4-2. Alvarez was able to cut the deficit to 4-3 and 5-4, but never even the set. Alvarez dips to 10-10 overall and 6-6 in dual matches. Of Alvarez's 20 matches, 14 have been against ranked foes.

The Yellow Jackets won again to even the match at 3-3 overall. Daniel Yun defeated Dickerson 6-3, 7-6 (5) to even the match. Yun jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening set before Dickerson clawed his way back to a 3-2 deficit. Yun held and broke to go up 5-2 before closing out the set. The second set had the two even at points one, two and three before Yun held and broke to lead 5-3. Dickerson answered with a break and hold to even the set at 5-5. The two headed to the tiebreaker at 6-6. Dickerson led 2-0 in the tiebreaker but the two were even at 3-3. Yun then won consecutive points to lead 5-3. Dickerson got to within 5-4 and 6-5, but Yun got the last point to end the match. Dickerson falls to 8-7 overall and 6-2 in dual matches.

The match came down to court two, where Benito bounced back to top Mateas in three sets, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. In the opening set, Mateas was broken early and trailed 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2. From there, Mateas rolled off four straight wins to take the set. The second set had Benito go on the big run, ripping off four straight after a 1-1 tie to take a 5-1 advantage before closing out the set. The third set featured back-and-forth breaks. Mateas led 2-1 and then broke to go up 3-1. Benito answered with a break and made it a 3-2 deficit. Mateas answered again with a break to take a 4-2 advantage. Benito then rolled off four straight games to win the match. Mateas falls to 9-4 overall, all in dual matches.

“Catalin had chances,” Smith said. “He was up 4-2 in the third, but he played exactly the way we wanted him to play. He was super aggressive and came forward. He played on his terms. I was happy with what Catalin did.”

“I know everyone is a little bit upset with the loss,” Mateas said. “I think all of us competed really, really well. That's exactly what we wanted to do. At the start of the day we said we were going to come out and give it our best. I think all of us did that. Overall, we're a little down, but I think we're really going to look forward.”

Duke continues ACC action with on a four-match road trip, beginning Friday with a 2:30 p.m. match at Miami.

#34 Georgia Tech 4, #57 Duke 3
March 6, 2016 at Durham, N.C. (Ambler Tennis Stadium)

Doubles competition
1. Christopher Eubanks/Carlos Benito (GT) def. Nicolas Alvarez/Vincent Lin (DU) 6-3
2. Daniel McCall/Jason Lapidus (DU) vs. #41 Casey Kay/Michael Kay (GT) 4-5, unfinished
3. Andrew Li/Nathan Rakitt (GT) def. Catalin Mateas/Ryan Dickerson (DU) 6-3

Singles competition
1. #12 Christopher Eubanks (GT) def. #15 Nicolas Alvarez (DU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
2. Carlos Benito (GT) def. Catalin Mateas (DU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
3. Vincent Lin (DU) def. Andrew Li (GT) 6-2, 6-2
4. TJ Pura (DU) def. Cole Fiegel (GT) 6-1, 6-3
5. Daniel Yun (GT) def. Ryan Dickerson (DU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
6. Daniel McCall (DU) def. Michael Kay (GT) 6-4, 7-5

Match Notes:
Georgia Tech 8-4, 1-1 ACC; National ranking #34
Duke 6-7, 0-1 ACC; National ranking #57
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (3,4,6,1,5,2)
Official: Sharon Wright
T-2:41 A-202

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