CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 49 Duke men’s tennis team put up a stiff fight before falling 4-1 to No. 2 Virginia Friday at the Boyd Tinsley Courts inside the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
The Blue Devils (7-8, 2-3 ACC) got a point from Teddy Truwit’s straight-set win on court six. After falling behind 2-0, Duke captured its point, sent a match to a deciding third set and pushed another to the tiebreaker in the second set before the Cavaliers ended the contest.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Virginia earned the first doubles decision as No. 37 Jangjun Kim and Mans Dahlberg topped Gerard Planelles Ripoll and Dylan Long 6-2 on court two. The Cavaliers’ pair took a 4-0 lead and did not look back.
- On court three, Teddy Truwit and Saahith Jayaraman fell 6-3 against Andres Santamarta Roig and Keegan Rice as the Cavaliers took the doubles point. The two sides were even at 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3 before Virginia ran off the last three games for the match.
- Virginia pushed its lead to 2-0 on court four, where Kim downed Long 6-2, 6-2. The first set was even at 2-2 before Kim ripped off eight consecutive games to take the first set and have control of the second.
- Duke got its point in the sixth slot as Truwit defeated Stiles Brockett 6-0, 6-4. After breezing through the first set, Truwit fell behind 4-1 in the second. He mounted a match-ending rally by winning the final five games of the set. Truwit picked up his first ACC victory of the season.
- As Truwit was closing out his match, Planelles Ripoll sent his into a deciding third set and Pedro Rodenas was heading towards a second set tiebreaker.
- The country’s No. 1 singles player, Dylan Dietrich, put UVA ahead 3-1 with a 6-2, 7-6 (2) win on the top court against No. 103 Rodenas. With a 2-2 tie in the first set, Rodenas was broken as Dietrich captured the final four games. Rodenas answered in the second set with a 3-1 early lead. Dietrich had an answer and knotted the set at 4-4. The action remained even at 5-5 and 6-6 to go to the tiebreaker, which Dietrich won 7-2.
- The Cavaliers finished the match with a 6-1, 6-4 triumph by Dalhberg over Jayaraman on court five. With a 1-1 tie in the first set, Dahlberg took the final five games. Jayaraman returned the favor to start the second set by taking a 3-0 lead. Dahlberg rallied and won five straight to lead 5-3. Jayaraman got one game back but couldn’t force the tie.
UP NEXT
- The Blue Devils finish the Virginia road swing at Virginia Tech at 1 p.m. Sunday.
RESULTS…