The Battle of Tobacco Road

MLK Day – A Day to Celebrate

January 19, 2008 – MLK Day. More than 45 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech heard around the world. Every year on this day, the United States of America pays respect to a legend who advocated peace and equality. Despite the overwhelming sense of unity felt around the nation, there remained one hot spot, a tennis center to be specific, in which animosity and unadulterated hatred still thrived. On the third and final day of the Duke Invitational, the Battle of Tobacco Road unraveled under the lights of the Sheffield Tennis Center. Duke versus UNC – pride, honor, and most importantly, bragging rights were on the line.

Doubles play commenced with more intensity and fight than the two previous days combined. The international tandem of Al (Alain) and Kiril played an extremely well fought match but came up a bit short against a team who seemingly forgot how to miss a volley. Reid and Dylan prevailed in a close contest against their Tar Heel opponents through the winning combination of Reid’s deft volleys and Dylan’s burning desire to plow the ball straight through opponent’s chests. The freshmen duo of Torsten and Holland played a solid match demonstrating maturity and team chemistry well beyond their years. The “Dream Team” consisting of Carp and Pinsky put on a show for the crowd with a decisive 8-3 victory complete with eclectic shot making. At the completion of doubles action, Duke tallied 3 W’s while UNC garnered only 1.

Inside the locker room, energy as well as morale was high. The coaching staff of which I’ll refer to as the Duke Tennis Triumvirate (Smith, Goffi, and Hippensteel) was extremely pleased with our performance as well as our ability to match and ultimately surpass UNC’s energy. Nevertheless, the triumvirate issued sage advice by telling us not to get complacent and to come out even hungrier for singles. They reiterated that our UNC foes, despite an abysmal past two days, would still fight and compete because they were playing Duke. After the 10 minute intermission, the singles matches began. Right off the bat, things got heated as energy and emotions ran high.

As a person more inclined to numbers than words, I’ll first start off with the overall statistics. We won 5 out of the 8 singles matches which equates to 62.5% for those who fancy percentages. The Tar Heels were successful at the top positions, but the Duke Blue Devils dominated everywhere else. At the first spot, Reid unfortunately ran into a player who had signed up for the wrong tournament. His opponent, Donato, may have hit a plethora of winners, but lacked geography prowess to know that Melbourne was no where near Durham, North Carolina. Kiril, the Bulgarian sensation, competed extremely well but in the end, could not overcome his opponent’s lefty crosscourt forehand. However, this is where UNC’s success ended. To lead the way, Junior Dylan Arnould won a three setter while exhibiting true tenacity. During an extended rally in the first set, I was shocked as I looked over to see Mr. Arnould on the ground nursing his left ankle while grimacing in pain. In my three years at this institution, I’ve witnessed two catastrophic events and could only hope for the best. Relief spread among the Sheffield crowd as he finally got to his feet and gently walked to his bench. After receiving medical attention, the crowd applauded as he returned to the baseline to continue play. Arnould did drop the first set, but under the guidance of Mr. Hippensteel, Arnould would battle back in the second and would run away with the 3rd. In the other matches, Torsten played a great match against Crone of UNC. Despite Crone’s incessant approaches to net, Torsten utilized his superior German genes and came up with fantastic passing shots. I watched this match in its final stages and vividly remember one scene in particular. After Torsten aced Crone to obtain his first match point, Torsten pumped his fists and let out a roar that epitomized fighting spirit – David Hasselhoff pre-Wendy’s/YouTube would be most proud. On the other end of the center, Jared Pinsky made quick work of his Tar Heel opponent. Word on the street was that Mr. Pinsky heard the day’s cookies were the best of the weekend and well frankly, he couldn’t miss out. Holland, who was determined to take first place in time spent on court, once again was battling deep in a third set. Amidst the militia of UNC players heckling, Holland dug deep and triumphed once again. The other freshmen from New Jersey, Luke Marchese, channeled his hatred toward UNC by not only beating, but crushing his opponent. A man of few smiles, Marchese did have a big grin for this victory. The match that went the distance involved the Sao Paulo native, Al. His opponent, Ahari, notorious for getting in one’s face proved to be just that. Even I as a spectator knew I was in for the long haul after Ahari went wild after just the first point. Nevertheless, Al remained stoic and unfazed despite these antics. Sure enough Al confidently took the first set 6-3 which, much to my relief, temporarily quieted Ahari. The second set was closely contested as Al had two match points. On the second match point, Al decided to end the match with an exclamation point as he attempted to win the point with a drop shot. Unfortunately, this exclamation point would soon turn into ellipses as Ahari would go on to win the point and eventually the set. In the third and final set, Al came up a bit short due to the combination of the weekend’s fatigue as well as better play from his opponent.

All in all, this weekend was a success as we dominated all three days of play. Additionally, Junior Dylan Arnould receives accolades as he earned the most points and thus won the singles contest of the Duke Invitational. The Duke Tennis Triumvirate congratulated everyone on a great weekend and was extremely excited to get the season underway.

Finally, as an engineer, I’m accustomed to succinct statistics that capture the entire weekend in one glance. I have formulated them and they are as follows:

Statistics

· Matches Won: 32

· Matches Lost: 8

· Winning Percentage: 80%

· Duke > UNC

I want to personally thank everyone who came out to support us this weekend.

Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the Inauguration (and snow)

David Lue