No. 4 Duke Loses 4-3 to No. 15 Virginia Commonwealth on Tiebreaker

Wednesday, March 29

Richmond, Va.

2 p.m.

Duke University

VCU

ACC Champion Blue Devils Stay at No. 3 in FILA ITA Tennis Rankings

No. 4 Duke Loses 4-3 to No. 15 Virginia Commonwealth on Tiebreaker

3/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

Richmond, Va. - No. 4 Duke went down to the wire against No. 15 Virginia Commonwealth on Wednesday in Richmond, Va. and lost 4-3 as the final singles match came down to a tiebreaker with the Blue Devils falling just short.

The singles match between each team's highest ranked players decided the contest as both teams had three points with only the No. 1 singles match left to finish. The Ram's 21st ranked Arnaud Lecloerec squared off against Duke's fifth-ranked Ludovic Walter in the top spot. Walter took a close first set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (4), but Lecloerec rallied to win the second set, 6-3, and then came out on top in the tiebreaker of the third set, 7-6 (3). The loss was only the third of the dual match season for Walter as he falls to 11-3 in the No. 1 slot and 21-8 overall.

The finish in the doubles match was just as exciting as each team won a match with the two ranked doubles teams left to decide the point. Duke's Joey Atas and Jonathan Stokke, ranked 29th, and the Ram's Lecloerec and Petr Olsak, ranked 34th, faced each other in the No. 1 doubles slot and battled down to the wire with the Blue Devils earning the victory on a tiebreaker, 9-8 (4). Atas and Stokke improve to 19-6 in doubles with the victory. Stephen Amritraj and Peter Rodrigues also won at doubles for Duke, defeating Francesc Lleal and Sergi Arumi, 8-4, at No. 2. VCU won the No. 3 doubles match as Ripoll and Lindgren won handily against Walter and Ned Samuelson, 8-1.

After earning the doubles point, the Blue Devils would take a 3-0 lead in the contest with wins in the No. 2 and No. 3 singles matches. Stokke, ranked 37th in singles, defeated Olsak in straight sets in the second slot 6-4, 6-4. With the win, Stokke climbs into a tie for 10th on the all-time singles victories list at Duke. He has 88 career wins to match Geoff Grant and is 13 wins shy of Doug Root for ninth. No. 62 Rodrigues won the No. 3 match in three sets. He faced No. 123 Lleal and won the first set 6-3. Lleal forced a third set with a 6-4 win in the second but Rodrigues cruised to a 6-0 win to take the match. Rodrigues improved to 13-1 in dual matches and 19-7 overall with the win.

VCU rallied to win the final four singles capped off with the tiebreaker win at No. 1. In the No. 4 match, Sergi Arumi came back to beat Joey Atas in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. Georges-Alexandre Israel handed Kiril Dimitrov just his fourth loss in a dual match with a 6-0, 7-5 victory at No. 5. Damien Lacombe defeated Ned Samuelson in three sets at No. 6 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Duke falls to 11-4 on the year with the defeat the first against a team not ranked in the top-10. Virginia Commonwealth improves to 18-4 and have now won eight straight contests.

The Blue Devils will continue their six-game road stretch on Friday when they head to Coral Gables, Fla. for an ACC match against No. 13 Miami at 3 p.m. On Sunday they will square off against No. 27 Florida State at 12 p.m..

No. 15 Virginia Commonwealth 4, No. 4 Duke 3
March 29, 2006 ? Richmond, Va.

Singles
1. No. 21 Arnaud Lecloerec (VCU) def. No. 5 Ludovic Walter (Duke), 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (3)
2. No. 37 Jonathan Stokke (Duke) def. Petr Olsak (VCU), 6-4, 6-4
3. No. 62 Peter Rodrigues (Duke) def. No. 123 Francesc Lleal (VCU), 6-3, 4-6, 6-0
4. Sergi Arumi (VCU) def. Joey Atas (Duke), 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
5. Georges-Alexandre Israel (VCU) def. Kiril Dimitrov (Duke), 6-0, 7-5
6. Damien Lacombe (VCU) def. Ned Samuelson (Duke), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3

Doubles

1. No. 29 Atas & Stokke (Duke) def. No. 34 Lecloerec & Olsak (VCU), 9-8 (4)
2. Amritraj & Rodrigues (Duke) def. Lleal & Arumi (VCU), 8-4
3. Ripoll & Lindgren (VCU) def. Samuelson & Walter (Duke), 8-1