Match 5
Duke vs. Middle Tennessee – Friday at 1 p.m.
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Match 6
Duke vs. No. 10 Wake Forest/No. 23 Auburn – Saturday at 1 or 5 p.m.
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DURHAM – No. 19 Duke men’s tennis heads to Winston-Salem, N.C., for the ITA Kickoff Weekend at the Wake Forest Tennis Center.
The Blue Devils will join No. 23 Auburn, Middle Tennessee and host No. 10 Wake Forest at the event. Duke is slated for one of the strongest regions in the county as it was the only region where all four teams were listed in the top-25 in last year’s final rankings.
Duke, the No. 3 seed at the tournament, will face off against the No. 2 seed in Middle Tennessee on Friday at 1 p.m. The winner of that match will meet either No. 1 seed and 10th-ranked Wake Forest or No. 4 seed and 23rd-ranked Auburn, who play the second match of the day on Friday at 5 p.m. The losers of those two matches will meet in a consolation match on Saturday at 1 p.m., with the championship match set for 5 p.m.
In total, there are 15 host sites across the country, with four teams competing at each site. The winner at each site will advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, held Feb. 17-20 in Chicago, Ill. The University of Illinois will automatically be in the 16-team field as the host site school.
Duke has three singles players and one doubles pair ranked heading into the matches led by senior Garrett Johns, who is slated as the No. 4 singles player nationally. Freshman Pedro Rodenas and senior Andrew Zhang join Johns in the singles rankings securing the No. 84 and No. 101 spots, respectively. Zhang is paired with fellow classmate Michael Heller in doubles action and the duo are ranked No. 49.
MOVING UP IN RANKINGS
After finishing their home-opening weekend with a 2-1 record and their only loss to No. 16 Harvard by a slim 4-3 margin, the Blue Devils climbed to No. 19 in the latest ITA Coaches Poll sponsored by Tennis-Point.
HISTORY WITH AUBURN
Duke currently leads the all-time series with the Tigers, 6-3, and is currently riding a three-match winning streak over them. The last meeting between these two programs came on Jan. 30, 2010 when the Blue Devils recorded a 4-2 win in the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
No. 23 Auburn heads into the…
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