Duke Wins 12th ACC Championship After Trailing 3-0 in the Match to Virginia

Sunday, April 23

Cary, N.C.

1 p.m.

Duke University

Virginia - Championship

Duke Wins 12th ACC Championship After Trailing 3-0 in the Match to Virginia

4/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

CARY, N.C. - No. 3 Duke, the top seed in the ACC Tournament, rallied from a 3-0 defecit against second-seeded Virginia to win 4-3 and claim the 12th ACC Championship in school history. Jonathan Stokke earned Most Valuable Player honors after winning all three of his singles matches in the tournament.

The championship was the 11th under Head Coach Jay Lapidus and moved Duke into second all-time in ACC history with 12 titles. The last time Lapidus won the crown was in 2003 when the Blue Devils defeated Clemson, 4-1, in the finals.
With the match tied at 3-3, Duke's Stephen Amritraj and Virginia's Nick Meythaler were battling it out for the title in the third set of the No. 6 match. Amritraj had won the first set 6-3 but Meythaler came from behind to win the second set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (8-6). Amritraj had the lead in the third set, 3-2, when Duke evened the score at 3-3. With everything riding on the final match, Amritraj won three straight points to clinch the title for the Blue Devils. Amritraj improved to 6-4 on the year in dual matches with the victory.

The Cavaliers started the match with three straight wins to take a 3-0 lead in the match. They won two straight contests to start the match with the doubles point, ending Duke's streak of 13 straight matches where they had won the doubles point. Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey defeated Amritraj and Peter Rodrigues, 8-5, at the No. 2 slot. Then to clinch the doubles point, Darrin Cohen and Doug Stewart came away with a tiebreaker win over Ned Samuelson and Ludovic Walter, 9-8 (0). Virginia then won in straight sets on the No. 3 and No. 5 courts in singles. Cohen was the first to finish with a straight set win at No. 5 against Kiril Dimitrov 6-3, 6-2. No. 87 Stewart then defeated No. 81 Rodrigues at the third position 6-1, 6-2.

Duke started their comeback when No. 58 Stokke completed a straight match victory at the second slot against No. 45 Rylan Rizza 7-5, 6-4. Stokke improved to 14-10 in dual matches and 29-17 overall. He finished the ACC Tournament with a 3-0 record in singles matches to garner MVP honors. Joey Atas brought the Blue Devils to within 3-2 with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over No. 79 Huey in the fourth slot. Atas is now 16-13 on the season and 13-7 in dual match play. Duke's No. 1 singles player, No. 6 Walter tied the match with a straight-set win over No. 13 Devvarman 6-4, 7-5. Walter improved to 29-11 on the season and 19-6 at the No. 1 position. He has now defeated 18 ranked players on the year.

Duke has won 102 ACC Championships in its history. Under Joe Alleva, the Blue Devils have won 37 ACC Championships, second most in the league in that time frame (1998-99 - present). Duke has won five ACC Championships this year, tied for the second most in Duke history. They won seven in 2000-01 and also claimed five in 1999-2000, 2002-03 and 2004-05. Duke has had at least five ACC Championships in five of the last seven years, having never reached that mark prior to 2000.

The Blue Devils improved to 20-6 on the season. They have now won 20 or more matches in 14 of the past 16 seasons. They will wait for their seed in the NCAA Tournament selection show which will be shown live on ESPNEWS at 8:30 p.m. on May 3. The first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament will take place at campus sites and will be held May 12-14.

ACC Tournament Finals
No. 3 Duke 4, No. 9 Virginia 3
April 23, 2006 ? Cary, N.C.

Singles
1. No. 6 Ludovic Walter (Duke) def. No. 13 Somdev Devvarman (UVA), 6-4, 7-5
2. No. 58 Jonathan Stokke (Duke) def. No. 45 Rylan Rizza (UVA), 7-5, 6-4
3. No. 87 Doug Stewart (UVA) def. No. 81 Peter Rodrigues (Duke), 6-1, 6-2
4. Joey Atas (Duke) def. No. 79 Treat Huey (UVA), 7-6 (4), 6-4
5. Darrin Cohen (UVA) def. Kiril Dimitrov (Duke), 6-3, 6-2
6. Stephen Amritraj (Duke) def. Nick Meythaler (UVA), 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-2

Doubles

1. Meythaler & Rizza (UVA) vs. No. 22 Atas & Stokke (Duke), DNF
2. Devvarman & Huey (UVA) def. Amritraj & Rodrigues (Duke), 8-5
3. Cohen & Stewart (UVA) def. Samuelson & Walter (Duke), 9-8 (0)