Duke 7, Elon 0
DURHAM, N.C. - The Elon men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the 2011 campaign, dropping a 7-0 decision to the 14th-ranked Duke Blue Devils on Sunday afternoon in the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. The Devils are an undefeated 2-0 on the young season while Elon drops to 1-1.
The day got started with doubles competition as Elon's top due of Chase Helpingstine and Philip Nemec took on nationally-ranked Reid Carleton and Henrique Cunha. Duke's 12th-ranked pair defeated Helpingstine and Nemec, 8-4. At number two, Duke's Jared Pinsky and Fred Saba were victorious against Alberto Rojas and Cody Stauffer-MacDowell, 8-2, and David Holland and Chris Mengel earned an 8-3 win over Cameron Silverman and Eric Turner at the number three position to give Duke the early 1-0 lead.
Elon had its work cut out for it in singles competition as the Blue Devil lineup featured three ranked individuals, including two players in the top 10. Luke Marchese was the first Devil off the court, defeating Stauffer-MacDowell, 6-1, 6-3, at number six. Fifth-ranked Carleton topped Turner, 6-0, 6-2, at the second position to put Duke up 3-0. Saba secured the Blue Devil victory with a 6-3, 6-0 showing against Helpingstine at number four.
Nemec played a solid match at the top singles position against ninth-rated Cunha. The senior nearly pulled out a win in the first set, before eventually falling 7-6 (2), 6-2. Duke completed the sweep with singles wins at three and five.
Elon will play on the road for the third straight match before its home opener on February 5. The Phoenix heads to Gardner-Webb on Thursday, Jan 27 for a 2 p.m. match.
Florida State 6, Furman 1
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida State Seminoles defeated Furman, 6-1, Sunday afternoon in men's tennis action at the Seminole Quad in Tallahassee, Fla. Paladin sophomore Robbie Aru defeated Jordan Kelly-Houston, 6-3, 7-6(4) at number five singles to score a singles point for Furman.
The Seminoles swept the doubles matches to win the doubles point. Connor Smith and Vahid Mirzadeh defeated Paladin senior Sawyer Duncan and sophomore Andrew Mellow, 8-1, at number one, while Andres Bucaro teamed with Anderson Reed for an 8-6 win over Furman freshmen Alex Christ and Joel Cook in the second doubles match. At number three doubles, Clint Bowles and Kelly-Houston defeated freshman Marco Aru and sophomore Bobby Browning, 8-1.
In singles action #42 Mirzadeh defeated Duncan, 6-3, 6-4 at number one, and #37 Bowles beat Mellow, 6-0, 6-2 at number two. Smith defeated Christ, 6-2, 6-1, in the number three singles match, and Reed defeated sophomore Tyler Droll, 7-5, 6-2 in the number four singles match. In the sixth singles match, Bucaro beat Paladin junior Watson George, 7-6(5), 6-3.
The Paladins (0-4) will play at #34 Alabama on Feb. 5 at 3 p.m.