Men?s Tennis Makes First Road Trip of the Season

Match 6
No. 25 Duke at No. 40 Tennessee
Friday, February 5 l 6 p.m.
Knoxville, Tenn. l Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center
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Match 7
No. 25 Duke at No. 54 Michigan
Sunday, February 7 l 12 noon
Ann Arbor, Mich. l Varsity Tennis Center
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DURHAM, N.C. – After a five match home stand to begin the 2016 spring season, the No. 25 Duke men’s tennis team makes its first road trip of the season this weekend, traveling to No. 40 Tennessee and No. 54 Michigan. The Blue Devils (1-4) travel to Knoxville for a 6 p.m. Friday match with the Volunteers (5-1) before heading to Ann Arbor for a 12 noon Sunday contest with the Wolverines (2-1).

Tennessee Series History
Friday’s match will be the 23nd all-time meeting between the Blue Devils and the Volunteers with Tennessee holding a 13-9 advantage … The two squads have met annually since 2011 and split the last six decisions … A year ago, the Blue Devils snapped a two match losing streak to the Volunteers with a 5-2 victory in Durham … Tennessee has won six of the eight meetings in Knoxville … The only current Blue Devils who have played against the Volunteers in a dual match are sophomore Nicolas Alvarez and senior Josh Levine during last year’s competition in Durham … Alvarez won his singles match 6-3, 6-2 against Hunter Reese on court two while Levine topped Jess Jones, 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (7), on court six.

Scouting the Volunteers
Tennessee has gone 4-0 at home and dropped just two points at the Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center … The Volunteer lineup is led by No. 75 Igor Smelyanski, who has gone 3-0 in the No. 1 spot of the order … He owns a team-best 18-3 overall record this season … Luis Valero has posted a 4-1 mark in dual matches, alternating between the No. 1 (1-1) and No. 2 (3-0) places in the order … Timo Stodder has also been strong with a 5-0 singles record at No. 2 (2-0) and No. 3 (3-0) … In doubles, Valero and Jack Schipanski are ranked No. 23 while Smelyanski and Schipanski are No. 54 … Schipanski is 3-1 in dual matches with Valero at No. 1 … Smelyanski and Stodder are 4-0 overall.

Michigan Series History
The Blue Devils are 11-3 against the Wolverines with the two squads having faced each other every year since 2011 after having not played since 1984 … Since the series resumed, Duke is 5-1 versus Michigan, with the lone loss a 4-3 setback on February 26, 2011, in Durham … A year ago in Durham, Duke tallied a 6-1 victory … Alvarez defeated Alex Petrone, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 1-0 (4), on court one in 2015 while junior TJ Pura suffered a 6-1, 6-4 setback to Davis Crocker on court six.

Scouting the Wolverines
Michigan will be hosting its first home weekend of the spring after one road match and two neutral site clashes … The Wolverines are led by Jathan Malik at the No. 1 spot, where he is 1-2 … Filling the No. 2 spot in the order has been Crocker with a 1-1 mark while Alex Knight has settled in at No. 3 and is 2-0 … Crocker tops the team with 11 overall victories … The doubles team of Runhao Hua and Knight are 2-0 at No. 1 while Crocker and Gabe Tishman have filled the No. 2 slot.

Smith’s Take
“This is our first road trip,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “It is really the first time that everyone will be together on the road. In the fall, there are patches here and there. This will be our first real road trip with this new group. I actually like playing on the road. There is full focus on your matches and it’s good team bonding. I enjoy tough environments. Tennessee should be a good test Friday night there.”

A Familiar Road Path
Duke’s first road matches will take place at Tennessee and Michigan during this first weekend in February … This is the same path Duke followed in the spring of 2014, when the team played six consecutive home matches before traveling to Tennessee and Michigan the opening February weekend … Duke split those contests, falling 4-2 at Tennessee and topping Michigan 7-0.

A Successful Pairing
Starting in the dual match season, Alvarez and freshman Vincent Lin have paired together in doubles and played all five matches at the No. 1 spot, going 4-1 … The lone setback was a 6-4 loss to the No. 7 team in the country, San Diego’s Jordan Angus and Filip Vittek … In Alvarez and Lin’s last match, they earned their first win against a ranked foe, defeating No. 52 Fedor Baev and Strong Kirchheimer of Northwestern, 7-5 … Alvarez also filled the No. 1 doubles slot a year ago, pairing with Raphael Hemmeler as the duo went 9-9.

“Doubles matches are so fast with one-set to six and no-ad scoring,” Smith said. “It really comes down to a couple points, but I’m really happy with the way Nico and Vinny are playing. They just keep getting better and better. I’ve been very pleased with how they’ve been playing.”

Strength in the Back Half of the Order
The Blue Devils have posted a combined record of 4-10 in dual matches from the top three spots in the order … The back half of Duke’s lineup, however, has kept the team close to the competition, combining to go 10-5 … Leading the way have been freshman Catalin Mateas, who is 3-0 at No. 4 and freshman Adrian Chamdani, who has gone 2-1 at No. 5.

Last Time Out
Duke ended its season opening home stand with a 5-2 setback to No. 21 Northwestern on Sunday … The Blue Devils forced the doubles action into a winner-takes-the-point tiebreaker with the Wildcats squeaking past with a 7-6 (5) victory … Northwestern then capitalized on the momentum with four straight singles wins to secure the match … After the doubles point, the Wildcats made it a 2-0 lead with a win on court three by No. 55 Kirchheimer against Mateas, 6-0, 6-0 … The advantage was pushed to 3-0 as Alp Horoz downed Levine 6-3, 6-3 on court six … Northwestern clinched the match on court two as No. 50 Sam Shropshire defeated No. 102 Pura, 6-3, 7-5 … The Wildcats added their final point on court four, where Baev downed Lin, 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 … No. 12 Alvarez tallied Duke’s first point with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against No. 16 Konrad Zieba on court one … Chamdani closed the match via a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 triumph on court five against Ben Vandixhorn.

Up Next
Duke continues its road swing with a 12 noon match on Saturday, February 13, at No. 27 Vanderbilt (3-1).

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Men?s Tennis Makes First Road Trip of the Season

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