Wake Forest Athletics
No. 18 Deacons Host No. 20 Duke on Wednesday
4/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 6, 2010
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The men's tennis team will look to extend its four-match Atlantic Coast Conference winning streak when it faces rival Duke on April 7 at 3 p.m. The match will be played outdoors at Leighton Stadium, weather permitting, and admission is free.
The contest could feature a sibling rivalry as freshman Tripper Carleton will compete for Wake Forest and his brother Reid, a junior at Duke, will suit up for the Blue Devils. With both players playing in the top two positbions of their respective singles lineups all season, a head-to-head matchup is a distinct possibility.
The No. 18 Deacons enter the match fresh off of a perfect trip to Florida, as they defeated Miami 5-2 on Friday before downing No. 22 Florida State 5-2 on Sunday. The victories improved Wake's record to 11-5 (5-1 ACC), good for third place in the conference.
Senior Steven Forman, ranked No. 56 in the nation, held down the top spot in the lineup last weekend, upsetting the Seminoles' No. 24 Jean-Yves Aubone, 6-3, 6-2, in addition to posting a straight-set win over Miami's Christian Blocker. Forman has gone 13-3 in dual-match singles play this season, including a 5-1 record against ACC opponents.
No. 42 Tripper Carleton continued his strong freshman year for the Deacons, defeating two ranked opponents in the Seminoles' No. 40 Vahid Mirzadeh and the Hurricanes' No. 110 Carl Sundberg. Carleton has been nearly unbeatable at the No. 2 singles position, posting a record of 8-1 overall and 4-1 in conference play.
The 14th-ranked doubles team of Forman and Iain Atkinson swept the Florida schools at the No. 1 position to improve to 10-4 overall and a perfect 4-0 against conference foes. Carleton teamed with fellow freshman Zach Leslie last weekend for the first time all season, and the duo won both of their matches at the No. 3 doubles spot. The Deacons have taken the doubles point in four of their six ACC matches.
The No. 20 Blue Devils will bring some confidence with them on the trip down Tobacco Road after they knocked off No. 18 Virginia Tech 6-1 at home on Friday, and came close to following it up with an upset of top-ranked Virginia, falling 4-3 to the Cavaliers on Sunday in Durham. Duke's record stands at 10-7 (4-1), putting the Devils fourth in the ACC.
Freshman Henrique Cunha has quickly ascended to No. 11 in the nation and has cemented himself at the top singles spot in the Duke lineup. Cunha is currently riding a nine-match singles winning streak that includes wins over No. 1 Steve Johnson of USC and No. 3 Michael Shabaz of Virginia.
The doubles team of Cunha and Reid Carleton is ranked No. 3 in the country, and boasts an impressive 13-1 record in dual matches.
Live scoring for Wednesday's match will be available through WakeForestSports.com.
Following the matchup with Duke, the Deacons will travel north to take on Virginia Tech on Friday and No. 1 Virginia on Sunday.
- www.WakeForestSports.com -
Players Mentioned
