Hokies fall to No. 43 Duke, 6-1

Mesmer tallies point for Hokies

March 4, 2017

	F
Kansas State	2
(3) Virginia Tech	8
Box Score

BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech men’s tennis team fell to 43rd-ranked Duke, 6-1, on Saturday afternoon at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center in the Hokies’ ACC opener.

Tech dropped the doubles point as Duke claimed the wins on courts one and three. The match on two was closely contested and was knotted at 4-4, but went unfinished after the point was decided.

Freddy Mesmer got the Hokies on the board with the win at six where he defeated Jason Lapidus. Mesmer took the opening set 6-4 and was up 3-1 in the second before Lapidus battled back to tie it up at 3-3. The two continued to trade points and were knotted at 6-6 when Mesmer went to work in the tiebreak, rolling to the 7-3 win.

Duke won the matches on three and two to go on top 3-1. The Blue Devils clinched the team win in three sets on court four where Duke’s TJ Pura rallied to defeat the Hokies’ Henrik Korsgaard, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The Hokies battled on courts one and five as well, but the Blue Devils held on for the wins. On one, Jai Corbett forced Nick Stachowiak to three sets. After giving up the first set 6-4, Corbett rallied to win the second 6-3. In the final set, the two went back and forth and were knotted at 5-5, but Stachowiak picked up the last two for the win.

On five, the match was decided in straight sets, but Jason Kros and Ryan Dickerson went to tiebreaks in both. The Blue Devil player held on for the wins 7-6(5), 7-6(4).

The Hokies will be back on the court tomorrow, March 5 when they host James Madison. Match time is set for 2 p.m. at Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center.

Singles
1. Nick Stachowiak (Duke) def. #49 Jai Corbett (VT) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
2. Catalin Mateas (Duke) def. Alexandre Ribeiro (VT) 6-2, 6-4
3. Spencer Furman (Duke) def. Mitch Harper (VT) 7-5, 6-4
4. TJ Pura (Duke) def. #97 Henrik Korsgaard (VT) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
5. Ryan Dickerson (Duke) def. Jason Kros (VT) 7-6(5), 7-6(4)
6. Freddy Mesmer (VT) def. Jason Lapidus (Duke) 6-4, 7-6(3)
Order of finish: 6,3,2,4,1,5

Doubles
1. Furman/Stachowiak (Duke) def. Abraham Asaba/Corbett (VT) 6-4
2. Harper/Ribeiro (VT) vs. Dickerson/Lapidus 4-4 dnf
3. Mateas/Pura (Duke) def. Kros/Korsgaard (VT) 6-4
Order of finish: 3,1

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