May 12, 2002

DURHAM, N.C. - The 17th-ranked Duke men's tennis team stunned the 10th-ranked California Bears on Sunday at the Ambler Tennis Stadium as the Blue Devils came back from losing the doubles point to take a 4-3 victory and advance to the round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Duke (17-11) will next take on the winner of the Kentucky/Vanderbilt match on May 18 in College Station, Texas.

California took a 1-0 lead after doubles as Balazs Veress/Patrick Briaud defeated Duke's Jason Zimmerman/Alex Bose, 8-2. The Golden Bears secured the doubles point as #12 John Paul Fruttero/Robert Kowalczyk downed #28 Phillip King/Michael Yani, 8-4.

Duke came back in singles as the Blue Devils evened the match as 43rd-ranked Yani downed 81st-ranked Veress, 6-0, 6-2, at the second slot. The Blue Devils then took a 2-1 advantage as Yorke Allen knocked off Wayne Wong at the fifth position, 6-4, 6-3. California came back to even the match 2-2 as Mik Ledvonova downed Peter Shults, 6-3, 6-3, at number six.

Zimmerman, a Blue Devil freshman from West Chester, Ohio, then battled back after losing the first set to take a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over 84th-ranked Conor Niland to give Duke a 3-2 lead with two matches still on the court. The Bears made a comeback of their own at center court to even the match 3-3 as 13th-ranked Fruttero knocked off 11th-ranked King, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5.

The fate of the match rested in the hands of Duke's Joel Spicher and California's Kowalczyk. After falling in the first set 6-3, Spicher battled back in the second to take a 7-6 victory to send the match to a third set. Kowalczyk, a junior from Vero Beach, Fla., went up 3-1 in the final set before Spicher, a junior from Geneva, Switzerland, rebounded to win the final four games to give Duke a 4-3 team victory, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

California concludes its season with a 19-7 record.

Singles
1. #13 John Paul Fruttero (Cal) def. #11 Phillip King (Duke)  3-6, 6-1, 7-5
2. #43 Michael Yani (Duke) def. #81 Balazs Veress (Cal)  6-0, 6-2
3. Jason Zimmerman (Duke) def. #84 Conor Niland (Cal) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. Joel Spicher (Duke) def. Robert Kowalczyk (Cal)  3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
5. Yorke Allen (Duke) def. Wayne Wong (Cal)  6-4, 6-3
6. Mik Ledvonova (Cal) def. Peter Shults (Duke)  6-3, 6-3

Doubles
1. #12 John Paul Fruttero/Robert Kowalczyk (Cal) def. #28 Phillip King/Michael Yani (Duke) 8-4
2. Conor Niland/Ben Miles (Cal) vs. Joel Spicher/Peter Shults (Duke) DNF
3. Balazs Veress/Patrick Briaud (Cal) def. Jason Zimmerman/Alex Bose (Duke)  8-2

Post Match Quotes

Duke Head Coach Jay Lapidus
"We didn't play a good match at third doubles today. They've (Alex Bose/Jason Zimmerman) been playing well all year, but they didn't have a good match today. After doubles I still felt we had a decent chance."

"I thought we were kind of tired after such a long regular season. We took a week off and I felt like we were much more refreshed and ready to fight again, and we fought today. Jason (Zimmerman) came back from a tough loss in the first set and played great tennis, and Michael (Yani) played the best match I've ever seen him play."

On the weather: "We were lucky we had hot weather. I was hoping for a hot day and it turned out that way. That ended up maybe being the difference."

Duke's Jason Zimmerman
"I competed really well today. I had a rough streak before the ACC Tournament, but we had a week off because everyone was tired. It was nice and we came back refreshed mentally and physically. We all worked really hard this week and it showed on the court. Today it was very hot and I think that's one of the reasons that I was able to come back in the second and third. I was mentally tough. I didn't make any unforced errors, I made my opponent play every ball and ran down everything I could and things starting going my way.

Duke's Joel Spicher
"He's (Robert Kowalczyk) very inconsistent. He would hit three winners then he would make three mistakes, so you never know what is going to happen with him. I was pretty confident after that (breaking Kowalczyk's serve). It was 5-4 and I was serving. I just had to play my game without making any mistakes."