Duke men's tennis remains undefeated at home with 4-3 win over Miami

Posted Monday, April 2, 2007

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Durham, NC - The No. 21 Duke men's tennis team defeated 35th-ranked Miami, 4-3, in dramatic fashion on Sunday afternoon, as freshman Dylan Arnould posted a three-set win at the No. 5 singles spot to give Duke its third consecutive ACC win.

Duke improves to 11-6 on the season and 4-1 in ACC play, while Miami falls to 9-9 overall and 4-3 in conference action.
The Blue Devils are a perfect 7-0 at home on the year.

In doubles action, the Duke duo of senior Peter Rodrigues and sophomore Kiril Dimitrov improved to 5-0 on the season with an 8-2 victory over J.C. Whitner and Barnabas Carrega at the No. 3 slot. Miami then bounced back, as the 12th-ranked Hurricane tandem of Josh Cohen and Luigi D'Agord defeated the eighth-ranked Blue Devil team of senior Joey Atas and junior David Goulet, 8-6, at No. 1.

Duke's No. 2 team of Arnould and junior Alex Stone then clinched the point for the Blue Devils with a come-from-behind
8-6 win over Hector Nieto and Vivek Subramanian.

Singles action saw Miami post the first victory to tie the score at one apiece, as 26th-ranked D'Agord defeated 72nd-ranked Atas, 6-2, 6-3, at the No. 1 spot.

After the match was moved inside due to rain, 73rd-ranked Rodrigues put Duke on top, 2-1, with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Subramanian at No. 3, but the Hurricanes would pull even at 2-2, as Whitner posted a 6-2, 6-4 win over freshman Aaron Carpenter at the No. 6 slot.

The Blue Devils took the lead again at 3-1, courtesy of Goulet's 6-2, 6-2 win over Nieto at No. 4, before Miami would tie the score at three apiece on Cohen's 6-1, 7-6 win over 43rd-ranked Dimitrov at No. 2.

Arnould then battled back to take the final two sets of a competitive three-set match to clinch the victory for Duke, as the freshman defeated Carrega at the No. 5 position, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3. Arnould leads all Blue Devils in singles victories with an overall dual record of 12-4 and an ACC mark of 5-0, and has been a clutch performer for Duke all season.

"I was really proud of the way Dylan competed today," said Duke head coach Jay Lapidus. "It's great to see a player, especially a freshman, be mentally tough and come through like that. We beat a really tough Miami team today and we're very happy with the wins this weekend."

Duke closes out its home season this week with three ACC dual matches, as the Blue Devils take on Wake Forest (April 4 -
3 p.m.), Boston College (April 6 - 4:30 p.m.) and Maryland (April 7 - 2 p.m.). All matches are set to take place at Ambler Tennis Stadium.

No. 21 Duke 4, No. 35 Miami 3
April 1, 2007
Ambler Tennis Stadium/Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center Durham, N.C.

Singles
1. #26 Luigi D'Agord (M) def. #72 Joey Atas (D) 6-2, 6-3 2. Josh Cohen (M) def. #43 Kiril Dimitrov (D) 6-1, 7-6 3. #73 Peter Rodrigues (D) def. Vivek Subramanian (M) 6-1, 6-4 4. David Goulet (D) def. Hector Nieto (M) 6-2, 6-2 5. #101 Dylan Arnould (D) def. Barnabas Carrega (M) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 6. J.C. Whitner (M) def. Aaron Carpenter (D) 6-2, 6-4 Order of finish: 1,3,6,4,2,5*

Doubles
1. #12 J. Cohen/L. D'Agord (M) def. #8 J. Atas/D. Goulet (D) 8-6 2. Alex Stone/D. Arnould (D) def. H. Nieto/V. Subramanian (M) 8-6 3. P. Rodrigues/K. Dimitrov (D) def. J. Whitner/B. Carrega (M) 8-2 Order of finish: 3,1,2*

* indicates clinching match

No. 21 Duke 11-6 (4-1 ACC)
No. 35 Miami 9-9 (4-3 ACC)