Blue Devils Open Weekend Tournaments With Strong Performances

Friday, September 26

Charlottesville, Va.

All Day

Duke University

Day One

Blue Devils Host Three Schools For Duke Invitational

Blue Devils Open Weekend Tournaments With Strong Performances

9/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? The Duke men's tennis team sent 10 players to two different locations on Friday and came away with eight singles victories and one doubles win.

“Overall it was a pretty good first day,” said head coach Ramsey Smith. “Kiril (Dimitrov) and Al (Michel) continued their solid doubles play with a convincing win in the morning. The competition here is strong and we came away with some good singles wins in the afternoon. Hopefully we can keep things going tomorrow.”

The doubles tandem of Kiril Dimitrov and Alain Michel continued to perform well for the Blue Devils as they claimed an 8-1 victory over David Nguyen and Reese Milner of Virginia in the A-1 doubles draw. The Duke pair improved to 4-1 on the season.

Two players remain in the singles main draw at the UVA Ranked Plus One Invitational. No. 39 Reid Carleton defeated Daniel Nguyen of South Carolina in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 in the A-1 singles bracket. Carleton improved to 5-1 on the year with the win. Dimitrov, who is ranked No. 103, earned a 6-2, 6-4 victory over David Nguyen of Virginia to move on in the A-2 singles bracket.

Michel and Jared Pinsky won their first round matches but fell in the second round to ranked opponents. Michel downed Igor Ogrizek of Radford in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 before falling to No. 104 Michael Shabaz of Virginia. Pinsky started with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 win over Alex Ahlgren of East Tennessee State but then lost to No. 75 Houston Barrick of Virginia.

Dylan Arnould and Torsten Wietoska each suffered losses in the first round but Wietoska was able to bounce back with a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Virginia's Leif Sunderland in the backdraw.

At the UNC Fall Invitational in Chapel Hill, N.C., Duke won three of its four singles contests. Aaron Carpenter, Luke Marchese and Christopher Price all came away with victories in the opening round while David Lue lost a tough three-set match. Carpenter improved to 5-1 on the season with his singles win over Joris De Weerdt of Georgia Southern 6-3, 7-6 (3). Marchese is now 3-1 after defeating The Citadel's Yufo Sutanito 6-4, 7-5. Price earned his second victory of the year with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win against Frederico Levi of North Florida.

Play will continue at both tournaments on Saturday. Action at the UVA Ranked Plus One Invitational is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. while the UNC Fall Invitational will begin matches at 8:30 a.m.