May 15, 2003

Nationally ninth-ranked and eighth-seeded Duke (22-5) will face eighth-ranked and ninth-seeded Mississippi (20-4) in the NCAA Tournament's Round of 16 on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. in Athens, Ga. The Blue Devils defeated High Point and 28th-ranked Wake Forest last weekend to advance in the tournament.

The winner of this match will face the winner of the Illinois-Washington match on Sunday at 3 p.m.

NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTEBOOK
NCAA TOURNAMENT ACTION: Duke is making its 13th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and owns an all-time ledger of 26-12 ... The Blue Devils have advanced as far as the quarterfinals, reaching the round of eight in 1993, 1999, 2000 and 2001 ... Duke has won at least two matches in nine straight NCAA Tournaments dating back to a 4-0 second round loss to Stanford in 1994.

YEAR -- RESULT
1982 -- Texas Christian 5, Duke 3
1992 -- Duke 5, Miami (Fla.) 2
	Stanford 5, Duke 1
1993 -- Duke 5, Louisiana State 2
	Georgia 5, Duke 4
1994 -- Duke 4, Texas A&M 1
	Stanford 4, Duke 0
1995 -- Duke 4, Clemson 1
	Duke 4, Virginia Commonwealth 1
	Stanford 4, Duke 1
1996 -- Duke 4, Clemson 0
	Duke 4, Florida State 0
	Southern California 4, Duke 1
1997 -- Duke 4, Georgia Tech 3
	Duke 4, Clemson 1
	Duke 4, South Carolina 2
	Duke 4, Louisiana State 1
	UCLA 4, Duke 2
1998 -- Duke 4, Wisconsin 0
	Duke 4, Purdue 0
	Minnesota 4, Duke 3
1999 -- Duke 4, Charleston Southern 0
	Duke 4, Clemson 0
	Duke 4, Kentucky 2
	Louisiana State 4, Duke 3
2000 -- Duke 4, Charleston Southern 0
	Duke 4, South Carolina 3
	Duke 4, Southern Methodist 3
	Florida 4, Duke 3
2001 -- Duke 4, Hampton 0
	Duke 4, Auburn 0
	Duke 4, Miami (Fla.) 1
	Georgia 4, Duke 3
2002 -- Duke 4, American 0
	Duke 4, California 3
	Kentucky 4, Duke 1
2003 -- Duke 4, High Point 0
	Duke 4, Wake Forest 0

A LOOK AT OLE MISS: The Rebels, who are making their ninth "Sweet Sixteen" appearance, enter Saturday's match with a 20-4 overall record ... They advanced to the round of 16 by beating College of Charleston (4-0) and Auburn (4-0) in a regional last weekend in Oxford ... The win over Auburn secured the Rebels' fifth 20-win season in the history of the program ... In singles play, Alex Hartman is ranked seventh nationally while Catalin Gard and Paul Ciorasco are ranked 23rd and 30th, respectively.

DUKE VS. OLE MISS: Duke leads the all-time series, 3-1 ... The Rebels and Blue Devils will be meeting for the first time in NCAA competition ... The last time the two teams faced was in the 2000 USTA/ITA National Team Indoor with Duke taking a narrow 4-3 win.

ACC CHAMPIONS: Duke earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament by capturing the ACC title at the league tournament in Raleigh on April 17-20 ... The Blue Devils defeated Maryland, Wake Forest and Clemson in succession for the crown ... Duke has now won 11 ACC championships (1982, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003).

LAPIDUS & YANI HONORED BY ITA: Duke head coach Jay Lapidus was named ITA East Regional Coach of the Year while senior Michael Yani was tabbed a recipient of a John Van Nostrand Memorial Award ... Lapidus, who is 284-81 and in his 13th season atop the Blue Devil men's program, becomes a four-time ITA East Region Coach of the Year selection (1995, 1999, 2001 & 2003) ... Yani received the Region's John Van Nostrand Memorial Award which is presented annually to an outstanding senior men's player who plans to pursue a professional career after college ... He is currently ranked 35th nationally in singles and third in doubles while posting overall records of 21-8 in singles and 19-4 in doubles.

ACC TOURNAMENT MVP: Senior Michael Yani earned ACC Tournament MVP honors after guiding Duke to its 11th league championship ... The senior went 3-0 in singles action without dropping a set during tournament play.

DOUBLES POINT: On the year, Duke is 20-2 after winning the doubles point ... On the flip side, the Blue Devils have posted a 2-3 record when dropping the doubles point.

MORE DOUBLES: Duke has been impressive in doubles action this season, winning the doubles point in 22-of-27 matches on the year ... In the NCAA subregional, the Blue Devils went a perfect 4-0 in doubles action.

AMRITRAJ RETURNS: After suffering a knee injury against Tennessee on February 16 and sitting out the next 19 matches, freshman Stephen Amritraj returned to the Duke lineup on May 10 against High Point in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament ... Amritraj played with Jonathan Stokke at number three doubles, and the tandem won two matches in regional play.

VERSUS THE NCAA FIELD: Duke posted an 11-5 record during the regular season against schools in the 64-team NCAA Tournament field.

THREE-SET MATCHES: As a team, Duke has compiled a record of 40-31 in three-set singles matches this season ... Jonathan Stokke has won a team-high nine such matches, while Ludovic Walter has posted an impressive 8-1 ledger in three-set matches.

STREAKING: Freshman Ludovic Walter enters the NCAA Tournament's Round of 16 having won 13 consecutive singles matches dating back to a loss to Calle Hansen of Pepperdine on March 21 ... Walter owns a 34-9 singles slate on the year, leading the Blue Devils in overall singles victories ... Also of note, Michael Yani has won 13 of his last 14 singles matches while Jonathan Stokke has earned wins in eight of his last 10 outings.

ACC HONORS: Led by senior Michael Yani and junior Phillip King, five Duke players were tabbed to the 2003 All-ACC men's tennis team while Blue Devil head coach Jay Lapidus was honored as the conference's Coach of the Year ... Yani earned all-league honors for the second straight season after posting a 5-1 slate in conference action ... King picked up all-league honors for the third straight season ... Other Blue Devils named to the team are sophomore Peter Shults and freshmen Jonathan Stokke and Ludovic Walter ... Walter posted a perfect 8-0 singles ledger in ACC regular season action ... The ACC Coach of the Year citation is the sixth for Lapidus in his 13 seasons at Duke. BLUE DEVILS IN THE RANKINGS: Duke's Phillip King is ranked 25th in the latest national singles rankings while teammates Michael Yani (35th) and Ludovic Walter (55th) also are ranked ... In doubles, King and Yani pair together to form the third-ranked tandem, while the duo of Walter and Jason Zimmermann is ranked 39th ... As a team, Duke is ranked ninth nationally.

DUKE SENIORS: Duke's Senior Class is made up of two players - Yorke Allen and Michael Yani ... This pair has helped the Blue Devils to a four-year overall record of 88-27 including a perfect 24-0 ledger in ACC regular season action ... In addition, Allen and Yani have been a part of Duke teams that have won four league regular season titles and three conference tournament championships while advancing to the NCAA Tournament four times.

20-WIN SEASONS: With a 22-5 ledger this year, Duke has now won 20 ore more matches in 15 seasons including 11-of-13 under head coach Jay Lapidus ... Duke's 1982 squad established a school record with 31 wins.

DOUBLES CHART: With 38 career wins, the doubles team of Phillip King and Michael Yani rank third on Duke's all-time chart ... Peter Ayers and Rob Chess are tops on the list with 75 wins.

NCAA SINGLES & DOUBLES: Phillip King and Michael Yani have been invited to play in both the singles and doubles draws at the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga., following the team tournament ... As a doubles team, the pair advanced to the semifinals of last year's doubles bracket ... Ludovic Walter is listed as an alternate for the singles tournament.

DUKE AT HOME: The Blue Devils went 12-1 during the year at home, with the lone defeat coming by the score of 4-3 against Pepperdine on March 21 ... In the 13 seasons under head coach Jay Lapidus, Duke has posted an overall home ledger of 104-16 (.867).

ACC REGULAR SEASON STREAK: Duke posted its seventh consecutive 8-0 record in ACC regular season play in 2003, and pushed its overall winning streak in such games to 57 dating back to the 1996 season.

HEAD COACH JAY LAPIDUS: Duke head coach Jay Lapidus is in his 13th season with the Blue Devils, and holds an overall coaching record of 284-81 including a 96-6 ledger in ACC regular season play ... The six-time ACC Coach of the Year selection has guided Duke to 10 ACC Championships and 12 appearances in the NCAA Tournament ... A 1981 graduate of Princeton, Lapidus was a three-time All-America and ranked No. 1 in the nation as a collegian ... Following a successful professional career, he served as an assistant coach at South Carolina from 1988-90 before coming to Durham ... While at Duke, Lapidus has coached nine All-America selections including three-time honoree Chris Pressley (1993-95).

DUKE 2003 RESULTS:

DATE	MATCH	RESULT
JANUARY
23	#52 WILLIAM & MARY	W, 5-2
31	#15 VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH	W, 5-1
FEBRUARY
1	PRINCETON	W, 7-0
7	#2 Illinois	L, 1-6
9	#43 Notre Dame	W, 4-2
16	#25 TENNESSEE	W, 4-3
20	#22 Texas	W, 4-3
21	#1 UCLA	L, 1-4
22	#4 California	L, 3-4
MARCH
8	#34 Texas Christian	W, 4-3
10	#11 Texas A&M	L,2-5
21	#42 PEPPERDINE	L, 3-4
22	#2 FLORIDA	W, 4-3
25	MARYLAND	W, 6-1
26	#32 WAKE FOREST	W, 4-3
29	#14 Georgia Tech	W, 5-2
30	#30 Clemson	W, 4-3
APRIL
2	N.C. STATE	W, 7-0
5	#30 VIRGINIA	W, 7-0
6	#37 FLORIDA STATE	W, 4-3
9	#45 North Carolina	W, 4-3
13	#27 Miami	W, 6-1
17	Maryland	W, 4-0
19	#25 Wake Forest	W, 4-0
20	#27 Clemson	W, 4-1
MAY
10	HIGH POINT	W, 4-0
11	#28 WAKE FOREST	W, 4-0
17	#8 Mississippi	3:00 p.m.