Rodrigues Notches 100th Career Win As Duke Hands No. 5 North Carolina First Loss

Wednesday, April 11

Chapel Hill, N.C.

4 p.m.

Duke University

North Carolina

Rodrigues Notches 100th Career Win As Duke Hands No. 5 North Carolina First Loss

4/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The 16th-ranked men's tennis team handed fifth-ranked North Carolina its first loss of the season on Wednesday evening, as the Blue Devils posted a 5-2 victory over the Tar Heels at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in front of a crowd of over 500.

With the win, Duke improves to 14-7 (6-2 ACC), while North Carolina falls to 20-1 (8-1 ACC), and Duke takes a one point lead in the Carlyle Cup battle (9-5-8.5), an all-sports competition between the rival schools. The Carlyle Cup is sponsored by Carlyle & Co., a Greensboro-based jeweler, and fans can visit www.carlyleco.com for more information.

Duke swept the doubles point, winning all three close matches, including a tiebreaker at No. 3. It was the first time this season that North Carolina did not win the doubles point, as the Blue Devils improved to 10-2 when taking the initial tally.

The Blue Devil duo of junior Ned Samuelson and freshman Dylan Arnould posted the first win, defeating Stefan Hardy and Sebastian Guejman, 8-6, at the No. 2 position, before the fifth-ranked tandem of senior Joey Atas and junior David Goulet posted an 8-5 win over the 48th-ranked team of Lenny Gullan/David Stone at the top doubles spot, to clinch the point for Duke.

At No. 3, the tandem of senior Peter Rodrigues and sophomore Kiril Dimitrov improved to 10-0 on the year with a 9-8 (7-3) win over Taylor Fogleman and Chris Kearney.

The Blue Devils took the first two singles matches to pull ahead, 3-0, as No. 115 Rodrigues secured his 100th career singles victory by defeating No. 121 Chris Kearney, 6-4, 6-0, at No. 3, and Goulet posted a 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 win at No. 5.

North Carolina then bounced back by notching two consecutive singles wins to pull within one at 3-2, as 69th-ranked Atas fell to Stefan Hardy, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), at the No. 2 position and Arnould suffered his first ACC loss of the season at the hands of Taylor Fogleman, 7-6, (7-3), 6-3, at No. 4, but junior Alex Stone would then post a 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 win at the No. 6 position over Will Plyler to clinch the victory for the Blue Devils.

No. 48 Kiril Dimitrov defeated No. 63 Benjamin Carlotti 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 1-0 (10-7), at the top singles spot to give Duke it's final point and put the score at 5-2.

“This is such a great win for us and it gives us a lot of confidence and momentum heading into the final days of the regular season,” said Duke head coach Jay Lapidus. “I'm so proud of the way our guys came out here and really gave it their all today and we're extremely happy with the win.”

The Blue Devils will close out the regular season on the road this weekend with matches at No. 2 Virginia (April 13, 3 p.m.) and No. 38 Virginia Tech (April 15- 2 p.m.). The ACC Tournament is slated for Aprl 19-22 in Cary, N.C.

No. 16 Duke 5, No. 5 North Carolina 2

Singles
No. 1   #45 Kiril Dimitrov (DU) d. #63 Benjamin Carlotti (UNC). 3-6. 7-6 (9-7), 1-0 (10-7)
No. 2   Stefan Hardy (UNC) d. Joey Atas (DU), 7-5, 7-6 (7-4)
No. 3   #115 Peter Rodrigues (DU) d. #121 Chris Kearney (UNC), 6-4, 6-0
No. 4 Taylor Fogleman (UNC) d. Dylan Arnould (DU), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3
No. 5 David Goulet (DU) d. Sebastian Guejman (UNC), 7-6 (7-1), 6-1
No. 6 Alex Stone (DU) d. Will Plyler (UNC), 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
Order of Finish: #3, #5, #2, #4, #6, #1

Doubles
No. 1 #5 Joey Atas/David Goulet (DU) d. #48 Lenny Gullan/David Stone (UNC), 8-5
No. 2 Ned Samuleson/Dylan Arnould (DU) d. Stefan Hardy/Sebastian Guejman (UNC), 8-6
No. 3 Peter Rodrgues/Kiril Dimitrov (DU) d. Taylor Fogleman/Chris Kearney (UNC), 9-8 (7-3)
Order of Finish: #2, #1, #3

Records: North Carolina 20-1, ACC 8-1; Duke 14-7, ACC 7-2

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