No. 6 Duke Falls To No. 10 Baylor, 4-1

Friday, February 13

Chicago, Ill.

10:00 AM

Duke University

Baylor

No. 6 Duke Falls To No. 10 Baylor, 4-1

2/13/2015 2:00:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

CHICAGO – The No. 6 Duke men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season Friday at the Midtown Athletic Club, falling to No. 10 Baylor, 4-1, in the opening round of the ITA Team Indoor Championship. Baylor won the doubles point and after a victory by Blue Devil freshman Nicolas Alvarez, the Bears responded with the next three singles triumphs to end the match.

The loss moves Duke to 9-1 on the year and snaps the squad's eight-match winning streak against ranked opponents. The Blue Devils' 9-0 start was the second best in program history, behind only the 1933-34 unit, which finished the year at 12-0.

Friday against the Bears, Baylor used victories on courts two and three to secure the doubles point. On both courts, Duke fell behind 4-1 and could not come back, losing 6-2. Court two had Baylor's Julian Lenz and Diego Galeano topping senior Jason Tahir and junior Josh Levine while court three was the Bears' Vince Schneider and Felipe Rios topping redshirt senior Chris Mengel and junior Bruno Semenzato.

Duke's Alvarez and senior Raphael Hemmeler, No. 34 in the latest ITA rankings, led No. 40 Mate Zsiga and Tony Lupieri, 4-2, on court one when action was halted.

In singles, Duke evened the match at 1-1 with a victory on court one as No. 9 Alvarez defeated No. 10 Lenz 6-4, 6-2. The win was Alvarez's team-leading 24th of the campaign. He now owns a 9-4 mark against ranked opponents and is 9-1 in his last 10 matches. His 24 victories are six shy of entering the top-10 chart for wins by a Duke freshman. Alvarez has also played the last two matches at No. 1 singles after playing his first seven at No. 2.

Baylor regained its overall lead at 2-1 on court two as No. 67 Max Tchoutakian defeated No. 38 Tahir 7-6 (7), 6-4. Tahir broke Tchoutakian in the first set to force a 5-5 tie. Tchoutakian later saved three set points to force the tiebreaker, which he won 9-7. Tahir was broken in the 10th game of the second set to allow Tshoutakian to clinch the match.

The Bears extended their lead to 3-1 with a 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-3 victory from Schneider against Levine on court six. The loss is just Levine's second of the spring, and first on court six.

Baylor closed out the match with a win on court three from No. 27 Lupieri, who downed No. 77 Hemmeler 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-1.

Duke returns to action Saturday at 10 a.m. ET against No. 17 TCU, which suffered a 4-0 loss to No. 3 Virginia on Friday in the opening round.

#10 Baylor 4, #6 Duke 1
Feb. 13, 2015 at Chicago, Ill. (Midtown Athletic Club)

Singles competition
1. #9 Nicolas Alvarez (DUKE) def. #10 Julian Lenz (BU) 6-4, 6-2
2. #67 Max Tchoutakian (BU) def. #38 Jason Tahir (DUKE) 7-6 (9-7), 6-4
3. #27 Tony Lupieri (BU) def. #77 Raphael Hemmeler (DUKE) 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 6-1
4. #95 Bruno Semenzato (DUKE) vs. Diego Galeano (BU) unfinished
5. Chris Mengel (DUKE) vs. Mate Zsiga (BU) unfinished
6. Vince Schneider (BU) def. Josh Levine (DUKE) 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. #34 Nicolas Alvarez/Raphael Hemmeler (DUKE) vs. #40 Tony Lupieri/Mate Zsiga (BU) unfinished
2. Julian Lenz/Diego Galeano (BU) def. Josh Levine/Jason Tahir (DUKE) 6-2
3. Vince Schneider/Felipe Rios (BU) def. Chris Mengel/Bruno Semenzato (DUKE) 6-2

Match Notes:
Baylor 5-1; National ranking #10
Duke 9-1; National ranking #6
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (1,2,6,3)
ITA National Team Indoor Championships First Round

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