Upcoming Event: Men's Tennis versus Orange and Blue Classic on September 12, 2025
Men's Tennis
vs Orange and Blue Classic
Wednesday, March 8
Raleigh, N.C.
2 p.m.
Duke University
4
at
3
N.C. State
No. 4 Duke Edges No. 25 N.C. State 4-3 in ACC Opener on Wednesday
3/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Raleigh, N.C. - No. 4 Duke won a close match against No. 25 N.C. State on Wednesday to begin conference play undefeated. The Blue Devils won the doubles point and split the singles to come away with a 4-3 victory.
Duke won all three doubles matches to start the match with a 1-0 lead. No. 8 Jonathan Stokke and Joey Atas won at the No. 1 doubles spot in a tiebreaker 8-7 (7-5) over Val Banada and Will Shaw. Stephen Amritraj and Peter Rodrigues won 8-3 in the second slot while Ned Samuelson and Ludovic Walter took the No. 3 match 8-4.
In singles, the Blue Devils fell behind early, losing the first set in four of the six matches. The two Duke players that won the first set went on to victories as Walter, ranked No. 5 in the ITA FILA Collegiate Tennis Rankings, earned a victory over No. 64 Nick Cavaday 6-4, 6-2. The win moved Walter into sole possession of second on the all-time singles victories list at Duke with 113 wins. He is six wins shy of current assistant coach Ramsey Smith, who holds the record with 119 victories. Kiril Dimitrov won at the No. 4 position after winning the first set 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. No. 22 Jonathan Stokke clinched the match for the Blue Devils with a win in three sets. He lost 3-6 in the first set but rallied to win the final two sets by a score of 6-3 to give Duke the 4-3 win.
N.C. State led 2-1 before Duke rallied off three straight victories. Jay Weinacker tied the score with a win over Christopher Brown at the No. 6 spot, 6-3, 6-1. Banada gave the Wolfpack the lead with an upset win over No. 59 Peter Rodrigues in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. The loss was the first for Rodrigues in dual meets as he falls to 7-1. After Duke clinched the match Shaw gave them their third singles win, defeating Ned Samuelson at the No. 5 position 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
Duke will head to southern California for three matches next week. They will open up the set with a match against UC-Irvine on Sunday, March 12 at 1 p.m. They will face USC at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, March 13 and UCLA on Wednesday, March 15.
No. 4 Duke d. No. 25 NC State, 4-3
Singles
1. No. 5 L. Walter (DU) d. No. 64 Cavaday, 6-4, 6-2
2. No. 22 J. Stokke (DU) d. Iriarte, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
3. Banada d. No. 59 P. Rodrigues (DU), 6-3, 6-4
4. K. Dimitrov (DU) d. Noblitt, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4
5. Shaw d. N. Samuelson (DU), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
6. Weinacker d. C. Brown (DU), 6-3, 6-1
Doubles
1. No. 8 J. Atas/J. Stokke (DU) d. Banada/Shaw, 8-7 (7-5)
2. S. Amritraj/P. Rodrigues (DU) d. Cavaday/Welte, 8-3
3. N. Samuelson/L. Walter (DU) d. Noblitt/Zink, 8-4
Players Mentioned
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