Completed Event: Men's Tennis versus #21 University of Southern California on May 1, 2026 , Loss , 2, to, 4
/
Final
Men's Tennis
2
vs #21 University of Southern California
4
No. 10 Duke Hosts Dual Match Against No. 20 Texas on Friday
2/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Durham, N.C. - The No. 10 Duke men's tennis team will host a dual match against No. 20 Texas on Friday at 6 p.m. The Blue Devils enter the weekend with a 2-1 record in duals this season. The Longhorns are currently 2-0 after starting the season with a pair of road wins.
Series History: The all-time series between Duke and Texas is tied at 7-7. The Blue Devils won the last meeting, 4-3, in Austin, Texas, last year.
Last Meeting: In last year's meeting between Duke and Texas, the Blue Devils rallied to win four singles matches after the Longhorns swept the three doubles contests to start the match. Duke trailed 1-0 but won each of the bottom four singles matches in straight sets before losing at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots to close out the match.
Hidden Duals: Duke and Texas met earlier this season at the Hidden Duals in the Miami Spring Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla. The two played four doubles and eight singles matches. The Longhorns won three of the four doubles matches including a 9-8 victory for No. 34 Travis Helgeson and Michael Venus over Joey Atas and Ludovic Walter. The Blue Devil's lone victory in doubles came for Peter Rodrigues and Ned Samuelson against Callum Beale and Miguel Reyes Varela. In the singles contests, Texas took five of the eight matches. No. 34 Roger Gubser and No. 44 Helgeson each won while Duke received victories from Rodrigues, Kiril Dimitrov and Christopher Brown.
Texas: The Longhorns enter Friday's dual match with victories in each of their first two contests. They defeated Minnesota, 5-2, on the road and then traveled to Arkansas and won 4-3. They have four singles players with 10 or more wins. Travis Helgeson leads the way with a 14-5 record, Roger Gubser is 12-4, while Milan Mihailovic (10-5) and Hubert Chodkiewicz (10-3) round out the list. Luis Diaz Barriga and Michael Venus both have nine wins. In doubles Helgeson and Venus have a record of 8-2 to pace the team.
Last Time Out: Duke faced their third straight ranked opponent on Sunday when they edged No. 26 Notre Dame 4-3. After losing the doubles point and the first two singles matches, the Blue Devils won four straight matches for the win. Duke was successful in the first set of singles, winning five-of-six with the loss coming in a tiebreaker at No. 5. Peter Rodrigues improved to 3-0 in dual matches with a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 3 while Joey Atas and Christopher Brown also picked up straight-set wins. No. 9 Ludovic Walter clinched the match with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 win over No. 7 Stephen Bass.
P-Rod: Peter Rodrigues, a junior from Estoril, Portugal, has had a strong start to the dual match season with victories in each of his three singles matches and two of his three doubles matches. In the match against No. 3 Illinois, he gave Duke its lone point with a victory over No. 59 Ruben Gonzales at the No. 4 position.
Top Ten: When the 2006 Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings came out Duke was ranked eighth as a team. They have now been ranked in the top ten in 15 of the past 16 seasons. The only season the Blue Devils did not crack the top ten was in 2002. Last year they were ranked ninth in the final poll and climbed as high as fourth during the year.
Singles Rankings: Two Duke players are ranked in the latest ITA Fila Collegiate Tennis singles rankings to come out. Ludovic Walter is the highest ranked Blue Devil at No. 9 while Jonathan Stokke earned the highest ranking of his career at No. 20. Joey Atas and Peter Rodrigues were both ranked in the fall preseason rankings. Atas was No. 29 and Rodrigues was No. 88.
Doubles Rankings: Atas and Stokke are both ranked in the newest doubles rankings. They climbed up to No. 9 after posting a record of 11-3 in the fall. In the preseason they were listed at No. 40 while Rodrigues and Walter were the No. 46 duo in the country.
Facing Ranked Teams: Duke faced 22 ranked teams in 2005 and came away with 16 victories in those matches. Seven of their wins came against teams ranked among the top-25, including a 4-2 win against No. 11 LSU and a 4-1 victory over No. 4 Georgia in a matter of three days. So far this season the Blue Devils are 2-1 against ranked teams, defeating No. 66 Old Dominion 7-0 and No. 26 Notre Dame 4-3 but falling to No. 3 Illinois 6-1.
New Addition: Kiril Dimitrov is the newest member of the Duke men's tennis team. Dimitrov, a freshman from Sofia, Bulgaria, joined the team at the start of the spring semester. He is a nine-time juniors champion in singles and 10-time champion in doubles in Bulgaria. He came to North Carolina ranked third nationally in Bulgaria. In his first action as a Blue Devil, he compiled a record of 2-1 in singles and 1-2 in doubles at the Hidden Dual Tournament.
Career Leaders: Two seniors for the Blue Devils are currently among the top 13 players in school history in singles victories. Ludovic Walter is currently seventh with 108 wins. He tied Chriss Pressley for sixth on the list with a win in the season opener. Walter is also ranked third all-time in doubles wins, teaming up with Jason Zimmerman for 40 career wins. Jonathan Stokke moved in to 12th all-time with a win in the Hidden Dual Tournament. His victory in three sets moved him past Phillip King with 81 career wins. He needs two more victories to tie Jeff Hersch for 11th on the list.
All America: The Duke men's tennis team has had 26 All-America selections in its history. In all there have been 15 different players to receive the honor. Eight of those players have been named All-America more than once, including Phillip King, who is the program's only four-time selection. Ludovic Walter is trying to become only the third player to receive the honor three times after earning selections to the team as a sophomore and junior.
All-ACC: Three players on the Blue Devil's current roster have received All-ACC recognition. Ludovic Walter has been named All-ACC in each of his three seasons. Jonathan Stokke is a two-time selection, earning the honor as a freshman and sophomore. Christopher Brown was also one of five Duke players named All-ACC in 2004.
20+ Wins: Four players picked up 20 or more wins for Duke in 2005, including three players who return for the 2006 season. Peter Shults had 22 victories and is the only player not returning. Ludovic Walter led the team with a 25-10 record, Peter Rodrigues compiled a 24-7 overall record and Jonathan Stokke finished the year with a 20-12 mark.
Jay Lapidus: Duke's head coach Jay Lapidus has an all-time winning percentage of .771 at Duke in 16 seasons. He has won 326 dual matches opposed to just 97 defeats. He also holds a winning percentage of .917 in the ACC with an overall record of 110-10. He has been named ITA Region II Coach of the Year four times (1995, 1999, 2001, 2003) and ACC Coach of the Year six times (1991, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2003).
NCAA Tournament: Duke has made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 14 consecutive seasons. They have made 15 overall trips in the program's history. Jay Lapidus took over as the Head Coach in 1991 and in his 15 years at the helm his first season was the only year the Blue Devils did not make the postseason tournament as a team. All of Duke's 29 NCAA Tournament victories have come under the direction of Lapidus as he holds an all-time record of 29-14 in postseason play. Duke has made trips to the round of eight on four separate occasions, accomplishing the feat in 1993, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2001.
ACC Dominance: Since Jay Lapidus has taken over the reigns of the Duke men's tennis program in 1991, the Blue Devils hold a record of 110-10 against ACC opponents. They have won 10 of the school's 11 conference championships during that period and have not finished below third in any of those seasons. Last season Duke finished second with an 8-2 record in conference play. Lapidus is one of only three coaches in ACC history to win the title at least 10 times, joining North Carolina's Don Skakle and Clemson's Chuck Kriese. No other coach has ever won more than two league championships.
Home Sweet Home: In the past 16 years, Jay Lapidus has guided Duke to one of the top home records in the country as they have won 126 out of the 147 (.857) home matches since 1991. The Blue Devils only had one season during that stretch where they lost four dual matches at home when they finished the 2002 season with an 8-4 record. In four of those seasons they have gone undefeated including 1993 (8-0), 1995 (8-0), 1999 (9-0) and 2001 (11-0). Last season they recorded a 9-2 ledger at home.
Players Mentioned
PLAYER
/ Men's Tennis
PLAYER
/ Men's Tennis
PLAYER
/ Men's Tennis
PLAYER
/ Men's Tennis
PLAYER
/ Men's Tennis
PLAYER
/ Men's Tennis
PLAYER
/ Men's Tennis
PLAYER
/ Men's TennisFriday, April 18
Thursday, April 17
Saturday, March 01
Saturday, October 19
