I traveled to Duke University on Sunday, April 13 to see the Yellow Jackets close out their regular season against the Blue Devils. It was a sunny, windy day in Durham at Ambler Tennis Stadium. When the match started it was warm, but as the day went on it got cooler and cooler. Duke was coming into the match 8-12 and 5-5 in the ACC so I thought the Jackets had a great chance of winning this match. It turned out to be a really close one.
The match started with the doubles coming down to the number one position. GT won at number three, 8-6 and lost at number two, 4-8. On one, senior Scott Blackmon and freshman Ryan Smith were neck and neck with the Blue Devils' No. 50 David Goulet and Christopher Price. The match went to 8-8 and a tiebreak. It was a really intense match, for the players and the fans. The Jackets went up an early mini-break, but the Blue Devils got it back and even held on after facing match point and went on to win the match. As is usually the case with doubles, that would turn out to be a big point.
In singles the Jackets took an early blow when senior David North had to retire in the first set on number two, sending the Jackets down 2-0. That was unfortunate as North had been struggling all season through pain and was forced to retire in Winston-Salem against Wake Forest a few weeks ago. I was not sure what caused him to retire in this match, but it put the Jackets in a big hole they could not overcome. Duke then went up 3-0 when they won at six.
At number one, GT freshman Guillermo Gomez played a strong match against David Goulet and won it 6-2, 6-2. The crowd was very lively on court one and Gomez really had to stay focused to get the win. Then Scott Blackmon won in straight sets on number five over Alex Stone 6-3, 7-5 to make it 3-2 Duke. On number three, Eliot Potvin struggled in the first set losing 6-3. He really picked up his game in the second set and took Kiril Dimitrov to a tiebreak. Potvin went up an early mini-break but Dimitrov got it back and then distanced himself the rest of the way and won it in straight sets. It was a good effort by Potvin to get back in it. For a few moments I thought he was going to get it to a third set.
What a great way to end the regular season. This was my first visit to Duke and Ambler Tennis Stadium is in an area right near the football stadium as well as Cameron Indoor Stadium. The buildings on campus are very distinct with their stone exteriors. It's a great campus to visit. The Yellow Jackets finished the regular season 13-11 but a disappointing 3-8 in the ACC. They certainly have some good talent to work with and some good recruits coming in next season, so I hope they'll be able to learn from this year and come back strong in 2009.
Later in that week the Jackets lost in the ACC tournament in Florida to North Carolina State, 4-3, so they have been eliminated from NCAA post-season play. The same week, the Lady Jackets lost in the ACC tournament and are now waiting to see if they will host an NCAA regional.
Time.
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