NEW YORK – No. 15 Duke men’s tennis defeated No. 5 Southern California, 4-1, on Saturday afternoon in the consolation round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships at Philip & Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center on the campus of Columbia University.
The Blue Devils (8-3) recorded their third ranked win of the season and improved to 33-34 all-time at the national tournament. The Trojans fall to 4-4 overall.
Freshman Alexander Visser garnered his first career match-clinching victory after besting Niroop Vallabhaneni in three sets on court six. The Westport, Conn., native is now 5-1 in dual matches during his first season in a Blue Devil uniform.
How It Happened
- Garrett Johns and Pedro Rodenas jumpstarted Duke’s day with a 6-2 victory over Volodymyr Iakubenko and Samuel Rubell on court two. A few minutes later, Connor Krug and Faris Khan clinched the doubles point for the designated visitors following their 6-3 win over Karl Lee and Vallabhaneni on court three. The match between No. Michael Heller and Andrew Zhang against Peter Makk and Lodewijk Weststrate on the main court went unfinished with the Trojans leading, 4-3.
- No. 47 Rodenas extended Duke’s edge to 2-0 early in singles action after 6-3, 6-1 victories over No. 38 Makk on court one.
- USC cut the lead in half when Lee defeated Jake Krug on court five 6-4, 6-4.
- The next match to finish was on court two where Johns tallied 6-3, 6-4 wins over No. 96 Weststrate to make it a 3-1 contest.
- Visser then secured the overall victory for Duke when he bested Vallabhaneni on court six. The rookie posted…
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