DURHAM, N.C. – The Virginia Tech men's tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision at No. 10 Duke on Sunday afternoon at Ambler Tennis Center.
Tech got out to the lead over the Blue Devils after winning the doubles point. Duke took the match on court three, but the Hokies claimed it on two where Carlo Donato and Mitch Harper defeated Nicolas Alvarez and Catalin Mateas 6-3.
In an exciting match on court one, Henrik Korsgaard paired up with Alex Ribeiro to face Nick Stachowiak and Sean Sculley. The Hokies controlled the match early, but the Duke pair came back to tie it up at 5-5. It was again tied at 6-6 to force the tiebreak in which the Tech pair battled to win it 7-6(5).
The Blue Devils came back to win four straight singles matches to secure the team win, but Ribeiro got the Hokies on the board in singles, claiming the match on court three. The Hokies' sophomore rolled past Spencer Furman to win in straight sets with scores of 6-2, 6-3.
Virginia Tech will take a bye weekend before getting back on the court Friday, March 16 when the Hokies host top-ranked Wake Forest at 2 p.m.
Singles
1. #32 Nicolas Alvarez (Duke) def. #29 Mitch Harper (VT) 6-3, 6-4
2. #92 Catalin Mateas (Duke) def. #117 Jason Kros (VT) 6-3, 6-3
3. Alexandre Ribeiro (VT) def. Spencer Furman (Duke) 6-2, 6-3
4. Nick Stachowiak (Duke) def. Carlo Donato (VT) 6-0, 6-0
5. Sean Sculley (Duke) def. Henrik Korsgaard (VT) 6-0, 6-0
6. Ryan Dickerson (Duke) def. Freddy Mesmer (VT) 6-1, 6-1
Order of finish: 4,5,6,2,3,1
Doubles
1. Korsgaard/Ribeiro (VT) def. Sculley/Stachowiak (Duke) 7-6(5)
2. Donato/Harper (VT) def. Alvarez/Mateas (Duke) 6-3
3. Dickerson/Jason Lapidus (Duke) def. Kros/Mesmer (VT) 6-3
Order of finish: 3,2,1