May 17, 2002

The 17th-ranked Duke men's tennis team will face Kentucky on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. in College Station, Texas in the NCAA Tournament Round of 16.

The Blue Devils enter the weekend at 17-11 on the season.

The winner of Saturday's match will play the winner of Tennessee-Texas on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. in the quarterfinals. Last year, Duke advanced to the quarterfinals before losing, 4-3, to eventual national champion Georgia.

Other Round of 16 matches include: Illinois vs. Notre Dame, Baylor vs. Southern Cal, Washington vs. Auburn, Florida vs. UCLA, Mississippi vs. Pepperdine and Georgia vs. Texas A&M.

DUKE NOTES
RECORDS & RANKINGS: Duke enters the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 with a 17-11 overall record and national team ranking of 17th.

REGIONAL PLAY: Duke advanced to the Round of 16 with Regional wins over American (4-0) and 10th-seeded California (4-3) ... In the win over California, the Blue Devils used a clinching three-set win from Joel Spicher at the number four slot.

ALL-TIME NCAA HISTORY: Duke owns an all-time NCAA Tournament record of 24-11 (.686) ... Duke has advanced as far as the quarterfinals, reaching the round of eight in 1993, 1999, 2000 and 2001 ... This year marks the 11th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the Blue Devils and 12th overall.

TOUGH SCHEDULE: Duke has lost 11 matches this season - the most under 12th-year head coach Jay Lapidus - with nine of the 11 defeats coming to an opponent ranked in the top 20 at the time of the contest.

AGAINST THE FIELD OF 16: Duke has played nine of the other 15 teams remaining in the NCAA Tournament field, compiling a record of 3-8 against those teams.

CURRENT INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS: Two Blue Devils are currently ranked among the top 50 singles players nationally - Phillip King (11th), and Michael Yani (43rd) ... In addition, the doubles tandem of King and Yani is ranked 28th.

KING HONORED BY ACC: Sophomore Phillip King was named the ACC Player of the Year in a vote cast by the league's head coaches ... King is 18-6 on the year in dual match play and compiled a perfect 7-0 ledger at number one singles in ACC action this season ... He is the second Duke player to earn the award, joining Jason Rubell (1991).

ALL-ACC: Two Blue Devils - Phillip King and Michael Yani - were named to the 2002 All-ACC Team as voted on by the league's head coaches ... The honor is the second in as many seasons for King.

THREE-SET MATCHES: Junior Michael Yani leads Duke in three-set singles wins with eight against three losses... Following Yani in wins are Yorke Allen (5-2), Peter Shults (5-4), Jason Zimmerman (5-4), Joel Spicher (3-4), Alex Bose (2-3) and Phillip King (2-3).