Sunday, 04/08/2012

CORAL GABLES, Fla.--The No. 61 Miami Hurricanes men's tennis team fell to the No. 7 Duke University Blue Devils, 7-0, on Sunday, April 8 at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
 
"Duke played like a top team in the country. They are national contenders and they showed that today. I feel like we had chances in the first sets, and some sets could have gone our way, but they were definitely the better team today," said Head Coach Mario Rincon.
 
The Canes switched up lineups in doubles play, pairing Wilfredo Gonzalez with Henrique Tsukamoto in the No. 1 spot, Omar Aly with Mark Schanerman in the No. 2 position and Diego Soto with Victor Mauz in the No. 3 position.
 
Tsukamoto and Gonzalez fell to the No. 26-ranked duo of Henrique Cunha and Chris Mengel 8-2. Aly and Schanerman gave their opponents Raphael Hemmeler and Cale Hammond a run for their money, but came up short 8-6. The duo of Soto/Mauz couldn't topple their opponents Fred Saba and David Holland, and ended their match 8-3 in favor of Duke.
 
The Canes continued their struggle against the Blue Devils in singles play. Although the Canes came out with a renewed energy against the highly ranked opponent, Duke defeated Miami in all six singles matches.
 
Gabriel Flores took on No. 6 Henrique Cunha in the No. 1 position. Flores played a neck-and-neck first set with his opponent, but couldn't manage to take down Cunha in the end. The match score was 6-4, 6-1 in favor of Duke.
 
Omar Aly in the No. 2 position played against No. 26 Chris Mengel. Aly played with vigor but fell to his opponent 3-6, 3-6 after two sets. In the No. 3 position, Wilfredo Gonzalez was defeated, 6-4, 7-5, by No. 106 Torsten Wietoska, a senior for Duke.
 
Diego Soto played against Fred Saba in the No. 4 position,  taking his opponent into a tiebreaker point in the second set. However, Soto ended up losing the point and the match. The final match score was 6-4, 7-6(1) in favor of Duke.
 
After coming out strong in the first set, Henrique Tsukamoto fell to Raphael Hemmeler in the No. 5 spot, dropping the match 6-4, 6-1.
 
Finally, in the No. 6 spot, Marco Stancati played singles for his second match in a row. He lost to Jason Tahir 7-6(3), 6-3 in the final singles match of the day.
 
"All of the coaches are really proud of our guys and the effort they gave. They knew this was one of the top teams in the country and they knew there was a lot on the line, but they fought and gave it their very best. It's all we can ever ask for," said Assistant Coach Mark Dickson.
 
The Canes travel to Blacksburg, Va., this weekend to take on the No. 51 Virginia Tech Hokies on Friday, April 13, then wrap up the regular season at Virginia on April 15 before heading to the ACC Championships in Cary, N.C. April 19-22.
 

Complete Results

Singles

1. Henrique Cunha (DUKE) def. Gabriel Flores (UM) 6-4, 6-1
2. Chris Mengel (DUKE) def. Omar Aly (UM) 6-3, 6-3
3. Torsten Wietoska (DUKE) def. Wilfredo Gonzalez (UM) 6-4, 7-5
4. Fred Saba (DUKE) def. Diego Soto (UM) 6-4, 7-6 (1)
5. Raphael Hemmeler (DUKE) def. Henrique Tsukamoto (UM) 6-4, 6-1
6. Jason Tahir (DUKE) def. Marco Stancati (UM) 7-6 (3), 6-3

Doubles

1. Henrique Cunha/Chris Mengel (DUKE) def. Wilfredo Gonzalez/Henrique Tsukamoto (UM) 8-2
2. Raphael Hemmeler/Cale Hammond (DUKE) def. Omar Aly/Mark Schanerman (UM) 8-6
3. Fred Saba/David Holland (DUKE) def. Diego Soto/Victor Mauz (UM) 8-3