The No. 4 Blue Devils (6-1) will look to rebound from a disappointing loss to cross-town rival now-No. 1 North Carolina at the ITA National Team Indoors last weekend with a win against the two-time reigning national champion Florida Gators Sunday.
Prior to losing to North Carolina in the finals of last weekend’s tournament, Duke ran through No. 18 Baylor and No. 10 Northwestern in their first and second matches, respectively.
The Blue Devils will likely have their hands full with the No. 2 Gators, but the tough competition they have played so far this season has prepared them well to take on the Sunshine State foe.
Duke is led by senior captain No. 64 Mary Clayton, who recorded her 100th career win just a few weeks ago in the team’s match against Wyoming. She has won three of her four completed matches so far this season. Last time the Fort Lauderdale, Fla. native played against the Gators, she suffered a tough loss Alexandra Cercone, who is currently ranked No. 116.
But Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth is confident that she will bring her best to the Sheffield Tennis Center Sunday with revenge on the mind.
“Being our only senior, she has a lot of experience in a lot of big matches for us,” Ashworth said. “Mary has definitely grown over her three years here.... She is just mature as a player. She has done a really good job of staying in the moment and working on getting better…. She has worked hard to put herself in a good position. I think the girls on our team respect her on all the hard work she has put in.”
Florida currently has five nationally ranked players on its roster in Lauren Embree, Sofie Oyen, Danielle Collins, Cercone and Caroline Hitimana. Embree and Oyen lead the way, ranked No. 4 and No. 9, respectively.
The Blue Devils have had trouble against Florida in the past, losing to them last year in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament in Athens, Ga. Duke suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 loss that snapped its run of 18 straight victories, the second-longest streak in program history. In the 2010-2011 season, the Blue Devils also lost to a then-No. 2 Florida team 4-1, and in the 2009-2010 season Duke lost 7-0 to the Gators.
“We’ve had some really good matches with them,” Ashworth said. “It came down to the last match last year. A lot of [playing against them and hopefully coming out victorious] comes in believing in ourselves and believing in each other. We’ve put ourselves in good opportunities the last times we’ve played them and but just haven’t been able to finish.”
After losing the doubles point to North Carolina, the Blue Devils also faced difficulties on the singles end. After dropping three matches on courts two through four, the rest of the matches were cut short and went unfinished.
“I thought that they played the bigger points better than we did,” Ashworth said. “We were up on two of the courts when the match stopped. They are a very good team and a very well coached team. We have to keep playing the big points well. We had talked before the match about playing those 50-50 points well. We’ve got to do a good job with those middle points.”
Ashworth hopes that Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center will fill up with fans in support of his team Sunday in its quest to use home-court advantage to turn the tides in this one-sided series.
“[This time] we are playing at home,” Ashworth said. “We have not lost a home match in a year or two. We’ve tried really to make Duke one of the toughest places to play in the country.”
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