Duke Earns 4-1 Win Over No. 5 Southern California

Saturday, February 17

New York City, N.Y.

12 p.m.

Duke University

Southern California

Duke Earns 4-1 Win Over No. 5 Southern California

2/17/2024 5:58:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

NEW YORK – No. 15 Duke men's tennis defeated No. 5 Southern California, 4-1, on Saturday afternoon in the consolation round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships at Philip & Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center on the campus of Columbia University.

The Blue Devils (8-3) recorded their third ranked win of the season and improved to 33-34 all-time at the national tournament. The Trojans fall to 4-4 overall.

Freshman Alexander Visser garnered his first career match-clinching victory after besting Niroop Vallabhaneni in three sets on court six. The Westport, Conn., native is now 5-1 in dual matches during his first season in a Blue Devil uniform.

How It Happened

Garrett Johns and Pedro Rodenas jumpstarted Duke's day with a 6-2 victory over Volodymyr Iakubenko and Samuel Rubell on court two. A few minutes later, Connor Krug and Faris Khan clinched the doubles point for the designated visitors following their 6-3 win over Karl Lee and Vallabhaneni on court three. The match between No. Michael Heller and Andrew Zhang against Peter Makk and Lodewijk Weststrate on the main court went unfinished with the Trojans leading, 4-3.
No. 47 Rodenas extended Duke's edge to 2-0 early in singles action after 6-3, 6-1 victories over No. 38 Makk on court one.
USC cut the lead in half when Lee defeated Jake Krug on court five 6-4, 6-4.
The next match to finish was on court two where Johns tallied 6-3, 6-4 wins over No. 96 Weststrate to make it a 3-1 contest.
Visser then secured the overall victory for Duke when he bested Vallabhaneni on court six. The rookie posted a 6-2 win in the opening frame before dropping the second set, 6-1. With the match coming down to the outcome of the final frame, Visser rebounded with a 6-2 victory to notch his 11th overall win of the season.
The matches on courts three and four went unfinished with both contests being in the third set when Duke clinched the win.

Notes

Duke is now 33-34 at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships
Visser improves to 11-5 overall and 5-1 in dual action during his rookie season
The doubles duos of Johns and Rodenas and Khan and Connor Krug both earned their sixth wins of the year

Quotes
"I am very happy with how we bounced back strong today to pick up a great win over USC. We made some big improvements in doubles and singles was a battle. Pedro [Rodenas] set the tone with a big win at No. 1 and then Garrett [Johns] and [Alexnader] Visser were able to finish things off. Great overall team effort and I'm happy for the guys. Looking forward to resetting and finishing the event strong tomorrow." – Duke head coach Ramsey Smith on his thoughts from the match

Next Match
Duke is back in action on Sunday at the Philip & Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center on the campus of Columbia University. The Blue Devils will face either host Columbia or Alabama in their final match of the tournament at 3:30 or 6:30 p.m.

Results
Doubles (2,3*)
1. Peter Makk/Lodewijk Weststrate (USC) vs. #11 Michael Heller/Andrew Zhang (DU) 4-3, unfinished
2. Garrett Johns/Pedro Rodenas (DU) def. Volodymyr Iakubenko/Samuel Rubell (USC) 6-2
3. Connor Krug/Faris Khan (DU) def. Karl Lee/Niroop Vallabhaneni (USC) 6-3

Singles (1,5,2,6*)
1. #47 Pedro Rodenas (DU) def. #38 Peter Makk (USC) 6-3, 6-1
2. Garrett Johns (DU) def. #96 Lodewijk Weststrate (USC) 6-3, 6-4
3. Oscar Weightman (USC) vs. Andrew Zhang (DU) 6-7 (8-10), 6-2, 0-2, unfinished
4. Volodymyr Iakubenko (USC) vs. Connor Krug (DU) 4-6, 6-1, 4-5, unfinished
5. Karl Lee (USC) def. Jake Krug (DU) 6-4, 6-4
6. Alexander Visser (DU) def. Niroop Vallabhaneni (USC) 6-2, 1-6, 6-2

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's tennis, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMTEN".

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