Duke Sweeps Weekend After 7-0 Victory over Charlotte

Saturday, February 25

Durham, N.C.

1 p.m.

Duke University

[60] Charlotte

Duke Sweeps Weekend After 7-0 Victory over Charlotte

2/25/2023 5:47:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

DURHAM – No. 22 Duke men's tennis defeated No. 60 Charlotte, 7-0, on Saturday afternoon at Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.

The Blue Devils improve to 8-4 overall and have registered two consecutive shutout wins after beating Boston College, 7-0, on Friday in their ACC opener. Charlotte falls to 4-6 on the year.

Senior Garrett Johns secured the overall match for Duke after he bested Coy Simon on the top court. The No. 5 singles player nationally recorded a 6-1 victory in the first set before defeating Simon 6-2 in the second for his second match-clinching victory of the year.

How It Happened

Duke made quick work of the 49ers during doubles play, securing 6-1 victories on court one and two, respectively, to claim the point. The senior-rookie duo of Johns and Pedro Rodenas tallied their seventh win after they beat Matias Iturbe and Abhimanyu Vannemreddy on the main court. Then sophomore Connor Krug and freshman Teddy Truwit earned the doubles-clinching win over Simon and Ivan Dreycopp on court two.
The match between Faris Khan and Niroop Vallabhaneni against Aditya Narayanan and Brett Gloria went unfinished with the Blue Devils leading 5-0 when the match was called.
Rodenas set the tone in singles action, besting Iturbe on court two 6-0, 6-3 to extend Duke's lead to 2-0.
The match on court six was the next to go final with Khan defeating Gloria 6-0, 6-3.
No. 5 Johns then secured the win for Duke after he earned a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Simon on court one.
The Blue Devils also claimed the final three matches of the day to register the sweep after wins by Connor Krug, Andrew Dale and Jake Krug.
Connor Krug posted a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Vannemreddy on court three to record Duke's fifth point of the match.
The final two matches needed a third frame to decide a winner. Dale tallied a 6-4 win in his opening set with Dreycopp on court four but fell in the second 6-1. He then bounced back for a thrilling 11-9 win in the super tiebreaker to record the victory.
Jake Krug battled on court five and bested Narayanan 6-4 in the first set before dropping the second in tiebreak fashion 7-6 (5). The Lakewood Ranch, Fla., native would rebound for a 10-6 super tiebreak win in the final frame to earn his sixth dual victory of the season.

Notes

Johns tallied his second match-clinching point of the year and 10th of his career.
Dale remains undefeated in dual action and sits with a 5-0 ledger on the year.
Johns and Rodenas continued to roll in doubles action and improve their record to 8-2.

Quotes
"We really set the tone with doubles. It was so much better than yesterday. We came out with great energy, great aggressiveness and I'm just really pleased with how we rebounded after some sloppy play yesterday in doubles." – Duke head coach Ramsey Smith on his team's improvement in doubles action

"We [the team and coaching staff] have so much confidence in them. Obviously, Garrett [Johns] is really experienced and Pedro [Rodenas] feels a little bit like a veteran even though this is his first dual match season. But they've just been so consistent. I think Pedro is really learning from Garrett and [Andrew] Zhang kind of the day in and day out consistency and he's getting much better with that. He had the opportunity to play a little bit higher this weekend and really took advantage of it, which was exciting to see. Again, very pleased with both of those guys." – Duke head coach Ramsey Smith on the consistency of Garrett Johns and Pedro Rodenas at the top of the lineup

"We took care of business on four courts with straight forward wins and played extremely well and then we had two courts where we really had to dig in. We weren't playing our best tennis, but I'm really proud of both of those guys for staying strong mentally, competing hard and pushing through at the end. Jake played his very best tennis the last five minutes of the match. Dale just hung around, he's played a lot of super tiebreakers and keeps winning them. But being in those difficult positions just makes them stronger. It's great for them individually, it's great for the team just to keep that momentum. So even though the dual match is already over those are really important matches and I'm really proud of both of them." – Duke head coach Ramsey Smith on the fight from Jake Krug and Andrew Dale

"We were just preaching to the guys about consistency. We've been a little up and down with some of the areas that we can control. We want to come out with that high standard every single time. I'm actually very excited about the month of March. We're going to be on the road a lot, for six straight matches in tough environments with some indoors and some outdoors against really good teams so I think it's a really cool opportunity to come together, put our heads down and just be super gritty. I'm just looking forward to it." Duke head coach Ramsey Smith on turning the teams attention to the heart of ACC play

"Yesterday we didn't have the best doubles point. The energy was a bit lower so that was one of the main goals today. I was super proud of Jake [Krug] in the third set tiebreak just being aggressive and playing the right style of play. Those matches are super important for our confidence, so it was good to get the 7-0 win instead of a 5-2 victory." – Duke senior Garrett Johns on his thoughts from the match

Next Match
The Blue Devils travel to Louisville and Notre Dame on March 3 and 5, respectively, for two additional ACC contests. Duke will face off against the Cardinals on Friday at 4 p.m. before meeting up with the Fighting Irish on Sunday at noon.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's tennis, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMTEN".

Results
Doubles (1,2*)
1. Garrett Johns/Pedro Rodenas (DU) def. Matias Iturbe/Abhi Vannemreddy (CLT) 6-1
2. Connor Krug/Teddy Truwit (DU) def. Coy Simon/Ivan Dreycopp (CLT) 6-1
3. Faris Khan/Niroop Vallabhaneni (DU) vs. Aditya Narayanan/Brett Gloria (CLT) 5-0, unfinished

Singles (2,6,1*,3,4,5)
1. #5 Garrett Johns (DU) def. Coy Simon (CLT) 6-1, 6-2
2. Pedro Rodenas (DU) def. Matias Iturbe (CLT) 6-0, 6-3
3. Connor Krug (DU) def. Abhi Vannemreddy (CLT) 6-2, 6-2
4. Andrew Dale (DU) def. Ivan Dreycopp (CLT) 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 (11-9)
5. Jake Krug (DU) def. Aditya Narayanan (CLT) 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 1-0 (10-6)
6. Faris Khan (DU) def. Brett Gloria (CLT) 6-0, 6-3

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