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March 5, 2010

DURHAM, N.C. -- No. 4 Texas (13-1) dropped the doubles point but stormed back to win five of six singles matches in a 5-2 win over No. 33 Duke (5-3) Friday afternoon at the Blue Devils’ Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.

Texas opened the match by surrendering the doubles point for the first time since Feb. 14, when the Horns dropped a 4-1 decision to Tennessee at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.  Duke opened with a win at third doubles, and Texas responded with a victory at second doubles, where the 22nd-ranked tandem of juniors Ed Corrie and Kellen Damico edged Dylan Arnould and David Holland in a tiebreaker.  Duke’s third-ranked duo of Henrique Cunha and Reid Carleton held off UT’s fourth-ranked tandem of seniors Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala at first doubles, 9-7 to lock up the doubles point.

The Blue Devils extended their lead to 2-0 at first singles, where the 14th-ranked Cunha topped UT’s seventh-ranked Kutrovsky by a 7-5, 6-1 count.  But, Texas responded and surrendered nothing further to the Blue Devils, as the Longhorns ended the match with five consecutive singles victories.

Zavala put the Horns on the board at fifth singles, where he dealt Duke’s Pinsky a 6-3, 6-4 defeat.  UT’s Corrie evened the tally at two with a 6-2, 6-2 win over the Devils’ 70th-ranked Carleton at second singles.  Texas’ Andersen would put the Horns on top for good at fourth singles where he delivered a 6-2, 7-6 (5) win over Torsten Wietoska. 

At third singles, UT’s Damico tallied a 6-1 opening-set win over Duke’s 63rd-ranked Arnould, but Arnould forced a third set by taking the second set, 6-4.  Arnould broke Damico’s service early in the final set, but Damico broke back and held serve.  The set proceeded into a tiebreaker, where Damico was victorious, 8-6 to clinch the match for the Longhorns.

The remaining match featured Texas freshman Vasko Mladenov against Duke’s Holland at sixth singles.  Mladenov took the first set, 6-2, but Holland held on to take the second set, 6-4.  Mladenov held a 5-2 lead in the final set, but Holland broke and held to cut his deficit to 5-4.  Mladenov, however, finished off the victory in the ensuing game.

Texas travels to Charlottesville, Va., on Sunday, March 7 to take on No. 1 Virginia at 11 a.m. Central.  Live scoring for the match will be available at VirginiaSports.com.

POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
“We had some opportunities in doubles and had some break points that we did not convert, particularly at No. 3 doubles.  It was tight all the way in doubles and we came up short.  I thought we fought back well in singles, where we won five first sets.  We started putting pressure on them, and in the end, I felt like we took control of the match when the singles got going.  Kellen Damico did a great job of finishing after being down a break in the final set, and Vasko Mladenov did a great job of finishing his win.  Ed Corrie was really good today, and Josh Zavala was outstanding, too.”

No. 4 Texas 5, No. 33 Duke 2
Doubles – Order of Finish:  3, 2, 1
1 #3 Henrique Cunha/Reid Carleton (DU) def. #4 Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT) – 9-7
2 #22 Corrie/Damico (UT) def. Dylan Arnould/David Holland (DU) – 9-8
3 Torsten Wietoska/Alain Michel (DU) def. #19 Andersen/Whitehead (UT) – 8-5
Singles – Order of Finish:  1, 5, 2, 4, 3, 6
1 #14 Henrique Cunha (DU) def. #7 Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) – 7-5, 6-1
2 #10 Ed Corrie (UT) def. #70 Reid Carleton (DU) – 6-2, 6-2
3 #95 Kellen Damico (UT) def. #63 Dylan Arnould (DU) – 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6)
4 Jean Andersen (UT) def. Torsten Wietoska (DU) – 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)
5 #78 Josh Zavala (UT) def. Jared Pinsky (DU) – 6-3, 6-4
6 Vasko Mladenov (UT) def. David Holland (DU) – 6-2, 4-6, 6-4