NC State
Duke
No. 6 Duke Downs No. 59 Wolfpack Men's Tennis
3/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 2, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State men's tennis faced its toughest challenge of the season against No. 6 Duke on Wednesday, and was still impressive in defeat, 6-1. The loss snapped a 12 game win streak, the second longest in school history. The Blue Devils (7-2) scratched out the doubles point with two wins at No. 2 and No. 3, and then took No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 in straight sets to close out NC State. Andre Iriarte improved to 5-0 at No. 3 singles for NC State, and upped his record to a perfect 9-0 overall to keep NC State (12-1) close. Conor Taylor battled at No. 1 against Ludovic Walter of the Duke, the nation's No. 2 ranked singles player.
The three doubles matches set the tone for the match, as No. 1 and No. 3 doubles got off to a strong start early for NC State. At No. 1, Nick Cavaday and Will Shaw took an early 4-1 and 5-2 lead over Walter and Jason Zimmerman. The Duke duo was ranked No. 14 in the nation a year ago, but the Pack tandem held them off and closed with a 9-7 win.
At No. 3 doubles, Mason Schermerhorn and William Noblitt held an early one game advantage, but eventually fell in a nail biter, 8-6 to Stephen Amritaj and Peter Shults.
After trailing 7-1 at No. 2 doubles, NC State's Val Banada and Iriarte battled back within 7-5, but couldn't overcome Duke's Jonathan Stokke and Charles Brezac, 8-5.
Taylor fell behind 4-0 in the first set of his match with Walter, but quickly closed within a break with an all-around court game. Walter would hold on to win the first set 6-4, then he took out Taylor 6-3 in the straight set decision.
Cavaday took an early lead at No. 2 singles on Stokke, the No. 61 player in the land, before dropping a pair of sets 6-4, 6-2.
Iriarte pulled NC State within a 3-1 margin with his big win over Amritraj, the nation's No. 97 ranked singles player. Iriarte attacked often with his deadly ground strokes, and won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.
At No. 4 singles, Shaw battled to the very end, dropping both sets by a mere break game. Shults, Duke's No. 4, won the match with a 7-5, 6-4 score, and but Duke ahead for good, 4-1.
Noblitt and Banada would close out the match with Banada losing in straight sets to Brezac, 6-2, 6-1. Noblitt lost his match in three close sets after taking the first 6-3. The final two sets went to Ned Samuelson, 7-6 (0), (10-2). It was Noblitt's first loss of the season, and he is now 10-1 on the season.
No. 59 NC State will host No. 30 Florida State this Saturday at 11 am at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center.
No. 6 Duke 6, No. 59 NC State 1 Singles No. 1 #2 Ludovic Walter (Duke) def. Taylor - 6-4, 6-3 No. 2 #61 Jonathon Stokke (Duke) def. Cavaday - 6-4, 6-2 No. 3 Iriarte def. #97 Stephen Amritraj (Duke) - 6-4, 6-4 No. 4 Peter Shults (Duke) def. Shaw - 7-5, 6-4 No. 5 Charles Brezac (Duke) def. Banada - 6-2, 6-1 No. 6 Ned Samuelson (Duke) def. Noblitt - 3-6, 7-6 (0), (10-2)Doubles No. 1 Cavaday/Shaw def. #14 Walter/Zimmerman (Duke) - 9-7 No. 2 Stokke/Brezac (Duke) def. Banada/Iriarte - 8-5 No. 3 Amritraj/Shults (Duke) def. Noblitt/Schermerhorn - 8-6
