April 19, 2001
ORLANDO, Fla. - The No. 9 seeded University of Maryland men's tennis team (4-12, 0-8 ACC) lost to top seed and No. 5-ranked Duke (19-3, 8-0 ACC) 6-0 in the first round of the 2001 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships at the Lake Cane Tennis Center in Orlando Fla. on Thursday. Duke swept the three doubles matches and took five singles matches to eliminate the Terrapins from the tournament.
In singles competition, sophomore Chris Chiu (Columbia, Md.) ended the season with a 6-9 record after losing to Ramsey Smith of Duke 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 1 position. Senior Jonathan Neeter (Old Tappan, N.J.) fell to Marko Cerenko 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 2 spot. At the No. 3 spot, senior Luan Nguyen (Tamuning, Guam) dropped his match to Joel Spicher 6-0, 6-0. Junior Jonathan Murchison (Orchard Park, Md.) played at the No. 4 position for only the fourth time this season, losing to Alen Bose 6-1, 6-2. Senior Larry Chou (Rockville, Md.) fell to Yorke Allen 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 5 spot. The match between senior Dan Kenshalo (Gaithersburg, Md.) and Michael Yani of Duke was not completed.
In doubles action, Neeter and Chou teamed up at the No. 1 position, but could not knock off Smith and Rueger of Duke 8-0. At the No. 2 doubles spot, Murchison and Nguyen ended their season record together 6-8, falling to Cerenko and Yani 8-3. Chiu and Kenshalo lost to Allen and Bose 8-3, dropping their record together to 5-6.
With the loss, Maryland ends the season 4-12, improving on last year's record of 3-12. Thursday's match also marked the end of the collegiate careers of the team's four seniors Larry Chou, Dan Kenshalo, Jon Neeter and Luan Nguyen.
Duke 6 Maryland 0
Singles
No. 1 Ramsey Smith (DU) def. Chris Chiu (MD) 6-1, 6-1
No. 2 Marko Cerenko (DU) def. Jonathan Neeter (MD) 6-1, 6-1
No. 3 Joel Spicher (DU) def. Luan Nguyen (MD) 6-0, 6-0
No. 4 Alen Bose (DU) def. Jonathan Murchison (MD) 6-1, 6-2
No. 5 Yorke Allen (DU) def. Larry Chou (MD) 6-0, 6-0
No. 6 Michael Yani (DU) def. Dan Kenshalo (MD) DNF
Doubles
No. 1 Smith/Rueger (DU) def. Neeter/Chou (MD) 8-0
No. 2 Cerenko/Yani (DU) def. Murchison/Nguyen (MD) 8-3
No. 3 Allen/Bose (DU) def. Kenshalo/Chiu (MD) 8-3
