Duke Downs Florida State 4-0 in ACC Tournament Quarterfinals

Friday, April 23

Cary, N.C.

12:00 p.m.

Duke University

Florida State (Quarterfinals)

Duke Downs Florida State 4-0 in ACC Tournament Quarterfinals

4/23/2010 5:00:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

CARY, N.C. - The No. 17 Duke men's tennis team earned a 4-0 victory over No. 28 Florida State in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C.

"I thought we had a great start and I thought today was one of our more complete matches of the year," said head coach Ramsey Smith. "Our doubles teams played especially well and came out with great energy. I could sense the urgency right off the bat. In singles we played really well 1-6. It got interesting at the end but we hung in there and finished things off."

Duke had lost to Florida State in the ACC Tournament in each of the past two seasons but received strong performances in singles and doubles to advance to the semifinal round on Friday. The victory improved Duke to 17-7 on the year, the highest win total since 2006 when they went 22-7.

The Blue Devils got off to a fast start with two quick wins in doubles for the first point of the match. Alain Michel and Torsten Wietoska got things started with an 8-4 win at No. 3. The No. 1 doubles team in the country, Reid Carleton and Henrique Cunha, then took care of business in the top spot of the order, winning 8-2 against No. 37 Vahid Mirzadeh and Connor Smith. Carleton and Cunha broke the school record for most doubles wins in a single season with their 36th victory of the year (36-5).

Cunha and Wietoska wasted no time giving Duke a 3-0 lead in the match as both players finished within seconds of each other in straight sets. Cunha rolled over No. 25 Jean-Yves Aubone at No. 1 6-0, 6-3, to improve to 31-5 on the year. He is 19-3 against ranked opponents this season and has won his last 16 matches. Wietoska then served out his match for a 6-1, 6-1 win against Jordan Kelly-Houston at the No. 4 spot.

"Cunha played one of his best matches of the year," said Smith. "Aubone is a great player, but Cunha got off to a great start and never let off the pedal. Torsten hasn't had match like that all year. He has pulled out a lot of close ones but to win like that took the wind out of Florida State, making it 3-0, and should give him a lot of confidence."

The remaining four singles matches were all close. Duke's Jared Pinsky had the serve to try and clinch at No. 5, up 5-4 in the second set but Connor Smith battled back to force a tiebreaker. He won the tiebreaker 7-5 to force a third set. Carleton won his second set to send his match into the third, Dylan Arnould lost his first set and Luke Marchese was early in his third set.

Needing just one more victory, the two players at the bottom of the lineup for Duke stepped things up. Pinsky won his first four games of the third set while Marchese broke serve early and won the final two games to close out his 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 victory and clinch the match. The win was the 20th of the year for Marchese, who was 10-1 in conference play during the regular season. It is his first 20-win season of his career. He is now 14-2 in dual matches this season.

"I knew we were up 3-0 and I saw Jared had a chance to close it out," said Marchese. "I lost a little bit of focus and let my opponent take advantage of it in the second set. Once I saw Jared lost the second set I knew I had to refocus and told myself it was going to come down to me. I like the pressure, but I will learn from this because this is a different type of format."

The Blue Devils will play in the second semifinal match scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday. They will face the winner of the quarterfinal contest between North Carolina and Wake Forest.

Tennis Match Results
ACC Tournament Quarterfinals
Florida State vs Duke
April 23, 2010 at Cary, N.C.

#17 Duke 4, #28 Florida State 0

Doubles
1. #1 Carleton/Cunha (Duke) def. #37 Vahid Mirzadeh/Connor Smith (FSU) 8-2
2. #77 Arnould/Holland (Duke) vs. #38 Jean-Yves Aubone/Clint Bowles (FSU) 4-5 UF
3. Michel/Wietoska (Duke) def. Anderson Reed/Jordan Kelly-Houston (FSU) 8-4

Singles
1. #7 Henrique Cunha (Duke) def. #25 Jean-Yves Aubone (FSU) 6-0, 6-3
2. #76 Reid Carleton (Duke) vs. #57 Vahid Mirzadeh (FSU) 4-6, 6-2, 1-1, unfinished
3. #105 Dylan Arnould (Duke) vs. #72 Clint Bowles (FSU) 6-7 (4-7), 1-5, unfinished
4. Torsten Wietoska (Duke) def. Jordan Kelly-Houston (FSU) 6-1, 6-1
5. Jared Pinsky (Duke) vs. Connor Smith (FSU) 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 4-0, unfinished
6. Luke Marchese (Duke) def. Anderson Reed (FSU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3

Match Notes:
Florida State 14-9, 6-5 ACC; National ranking #28
Duke 17-7, 9-2 ACC; National ranking #17
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (1,4,6)