March 24, 2004

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.-- The 48th-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team was defeated 6-1 by #8 Duke on Wednesday evening at Leighton Tennis Stadium on Wake Forest's campus. The Demon Deacons are now 8-7 overall and 1-3 in the ACC while the Blue Devils improve to 12-5 and 2-1 in conference matches.

Duke came away with the doubles point after taking two of three matches to begin the day. Wake Forest's Todd Paul and Derrick Spice upset seventh-ranked Jonathan Stokke and Phllip King, 8-6 at No. 2, but the Blue Devils came out on top at No. 1 and No. 3. Jason Zimmerman and Ludovic Walter, the third-ranked pairing in the country, held on for an 8-6 victory over Brett Ross and Andrew Hamar at No. 1 while Stephen Armitraj and Peter Rodrigues defeated Andrew Simpson and David Loewenthal, 8-4 at No. 3.

The Blue Devils also took five of the six singles matches to finish out the day. 37th-ranked Spice took the first set from #7 King, 6-4, but ended up falling in three sets at No. 1. The Deacs lone singles victory was delivered by Paul at No. 3 where he defeated Duke's Peter Rodrigues in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5.

The Demon Deacons will return to action Saturday when they head to Tallahassee for a 1 p.m. match against Florida State.