Duke Men’s Tennis Set for ITA Kickoff Weekend Showdown at NC State
The road to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship runs through Raleigh for the Duke Blue Devils, who head into this weekend’s ITA Kickoff with momentum, depth, and a chance to punch their ticket to Dallas and Waco. Ranked No. 18 nationally, Duke opens the weekend with a high-stakes matchup against No.
9 NC State on Friday at 11:30 a.m. - a match moved up due to weather concerns. The winner will face either No.
11 Texas A&M or Tennessee on Saturday for a spot in next month’s national indoor championship.
This marks Duke’s sixth straight appearance in the ITA Kickoff Weekend and the 15th in program history. After sweeping through last year’s regional as hosts, the Blue Devils are looking to make it three straight trips to the prestigious indoor event - something they hadn’t done since 2018.
A Familiar Foe in NC State
The Blue Devils and Wolfpack have a long, lopsided history - Duke leads the all-time series 107-5 - but recent matchups have been anything but predictable. After dominating the rivalry for over a century, Duke and NC State have split their last six meetings, a sign that the gap has narrowed considerably.
Their most recent clash came in last year’s ACC Championship quarterfinals, where Duke pulled off a gritty 4-3 upset over then-No. 5 NC State.
That one had all the drama you’d expect from a postseason battle. Duke claimed the doubles point, but the Wolfpack stormed ahead with two early singles wins.
The Blue Devils answered with two straight of their own to go up 3-2, only for NC State’s Branden Shick to claw back and win in three sets on the top court. It all came down to court four, where Remy Dugardin delivered a clutch third set - 6-3 - to seal it for Duke.
This time around, the Wolfpack come in 4-0, having secured the doubles point in every match so far. Martin Borisiouk, ranked No. 9 in singles, hasn’t seen dual match action yet this spring, but William Manning, ranked No. 85, is 3-1. Ainius Sabaliauskas has been a steady presence on court one in doubles, helping NC State maintain its early-season dominance in that area.
Potential Saturday Matchups: Texas A&M or Tennessee
If Duke gets past NC State, they’ll face either Texas A&M or Tennessee on Saturday. Both bring different challenges, and both have plenty of history with the Blue Devils.
Texas A&M and Duke haven’t met since 2008, when the Aggies edged out a 4-3 win in Durham. Duke leads the all-time series 12-5, with most of those meetings coming during a decade-long stretch from 1998 to 2008. The Aggies are off to a strong 3-0 start this season, including dominant wins over UTSA and UT Arlington, and a 6-1 victory over Elon.
Alexander Frusina, ranked No. 73, headlines the Aggies’ singles lineup, though he dropped his dual debut on Wednesday. Khololwam Montsi (No. 112) is undefeated so far, and the Aggies bring two ranked doubles pairs into the weekend - Montsi and Frusina at No. 29, and Togan Tokac and Tiago Pires at No. 81.
Tennessee, meanwhile, is a more familiar opponent. The Volunteers hold a 19-11 edge in the all-time series and have had the upper hand in recent years, going 10-5 since 2009.
The last meeting still stings for Duke - a 4-3 loss in the second round of last year’s NCAA Tournament. Duke jumped out to a 3-0 lead after winning the doubles point and the first two singles matches, but Tennessee came roaring back to win four straight and end the Blue Devils’ season.
The Vols are 2-2 this spring, with wins over East Tennessee State and losses to top-ranked Wake Forest and No. 3 TCU.
Their lone ranked singles player is No. 121 Alejandro Moreno, who’s off to a 3-0 start in dual play.
Moreno and Ethan Muza have gone 2-1 as a doubles team, while Dragos Cazacu and Piotr Siekanowicz have held down the top doubles court in all four matches.
A Strong Start to the Spring
Duke enters the weekend with a clean 3-0 record after sweeping Elon, James Madison, and North Carolina Central by identical 4-0 scores to kick off the dual match season. The Blue Devils looked sharp across the board, particularly in doubles, where they dropped just eight games across four wins last Sunday.
Alexander Visser and Teddy Truwit delivered the clinching singles wins in Sunday’s doubleheader, while Pedro Rodenas and Cooper Williams helped seal the deal against James Madison. Against North Carolina Central, Duke wrapped things up quickly with singles wins from Saahith Jayaraman, Dylan Long, and Truwit - with Long notching his first collegiate victory.
Top Courts Deliver Early
The top of Duke’s singles lineup came out firing in the opening weekend, going a combined 6-0. Williams anchored court one with two wins, Rodenas went 2-0 on court two, and Visser matched that on court three. That kind of production from the top half of the lineup is exactly what Duke needs if they’re going to make another deep run this season.
Doubles Duo Gets Early Recognition
Williams and Rodenas didn’t just win - they impressed. Their performance earned them Co-ACC Doubles Team of the Week honors.
In the season opener against Elon, they took down Veljko Krstic and Nikola Parichkov 6-4, using a late break to gain control. Against North Carolina Central, they looked even sharper, jumping out to a 5-1 lead before closing out a 6-2 win over Rodrigo Alves and Kareem Abdul Hakim.
The Stakes
This weekend isn’t just about early-season momentum - it’s about securing a place on one of college tennis’ biggest stages. A pair of wins would send Duke back to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, where the best of the best will battle it out in February.
With a deep, experienced lineup and a doubles game already clicking, the Blue Devils have the pieces. Now it’s about execution.
First serve comes Friday morning in Raleigh. Let the chase for Dallas begin.