Blue Devils Ready For Split Weekend

DURHAM, N.C. – Fresh off a successful stay at the ITA All-American Championships, the Duke men's tennis team returns to action this weekend in two separate tournaments. Part of the team will play in the Wake Forest Fall Invitational in Winston-Salem while the rest of the squad travels to the Battle in the Bay Classic in San Francisco.

“Each player has set goals for this fall and they all revolve around getting better in some way for the spring season,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “Ultimately, the spring season is the most important part of the year. In order to be our best then, we need to improve in the fall.”

Heading to Wake Forest will be senior Jason Tahir, redshirt senior Chris Mengel and junior Josh Levine. Tahir, who earned a No. 27 national ranking from the ITA in the preseason rankings, participated in the main draw of the ITA tournament last week for his first action of the fall. Mengel was also in Tulsa for the ITA event and took part in the qualifying rounds. Mengel owns a 1-3 mark so far this fall. Levine will be making his fall debut in Winston-Salem.

Representing the Blue Devils in San Francisco will be junior Daniel McCall and sophomore TJ Pura. Both are California natives with McCall hailing from San Francisco and a product of the Drew School. The tournament, which will consist of 32 players and 16 doubles teams, will take place at the California Tennis Club. The club is the oldest existing tennis club west of the Mississippi River and the eighth oldest in the United States. McCall played in the prequalifying round of the ITA All-American Championship last week in Tulsa and owns a 3-2 fall record. This will be Pura's first action of the fall since the Duke Fab Four on Sept. 12.

“It's a pretty exclusive tournament in San Francisco,” Smith said. “There are a lot of great teams and good players. I'm looking forward to a great tournament there. It's kind of a special treat to be able to take our California kids back out there.”

After this weekend's tournaments, Duke will take part in the ITA Regional Qualifier at the Cary Tennis Park. The event will begin on Friday, Oct. 17, and run through Monday, Oct. 20.

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