Kimchi has been forced to shoulder lofty standards on top of the normal difficulties of being a freshman and international student. That’s not to mention the unexpected hurdles that would come with being Israeli on a college campus this year, something Kimchi wasn’t expecting when she came to Duke.
The Blue Devils started off strong Friday with a dominant 4-1 victory against No. 7 Wake Forest, before falling to No. 16 NC State by a score of 4-2 Sunday.
Head coach Jamie Ashworth’s squad won in dominant fashion on the road against Louisville, coming away with a 4-0 sweep against the Cardinals.
On a senior day that was marked by multiple comebacks, Duke fell to No. 4 Virginia in a 4-3 nailbiter.
After taking the doubles point, the 17th-ranked Blue Devils won four of the six singles matches, clinching the 5-2 victory.
Duke beat the Fighting Irish 5-2, and its dominance began with its doubles play: The Blue Devils took the lead from the start and did not look back.
Fresh off two straight wins against ACC opponents, No. 19 Duke women’s tennis struggled to find the mental toughness necessary to upset No. 8 North Carolina.
Despite dropping the doubles point in both matches, Duke rallied to defeat the Demon Deacons 4-1 and the Wolfpack 4-3.
Three singles wins by Sheets, Jackson and Kimchi, along with the Blue Devils smoothly capturing the doubles point, gave Duke the requisite four points to secure an eventual 7-0 victory.
Duke collected a swift win against Clemson Friday afternoon as it never trailed before going on to win, 4-0. However, the win streak ended at three as Duke struggled to capitalize on opportunities against Georgia Tech Sunday.
The Cavaliers once again proved to be an Achilles’ heel, besting the home squad 6-1 in a hard-fought match Sunday afternoon, just two days after Duke took down Virginia Tech.
What started off as a relatively easygoing weekend for No. 18 Duke with a 6-1 victory against Syracuse ended in two tiebreaks that showcased the Blue Devils’ newfound spirit, as they eventually took down the Eagles 6-1 as well.
On a rainy Friday afternoon, Duke defeated Clemson in a narrow 4-3 match, decided by a grueling three-set battle on court 1. Two days later, the Blue Devils faced off against Georgia Tech, falling in a decisive 6-1 loss.
After two weekends off, Duke couldn't shake the rust as it fell to both Miami and Florida State to open conference play.
An extremely difficult nonconference slate concluded for No. 13 Duke with a trip to Cambridge, Mass., to compete against two local schools.
An impressive Duke squad headed into the weekend undefeated, but they had yet to be tested on the road. After two tough matches, they took the long trip home, no longer as an undefeated team.
It was a match that certainly could have come with lots of emotion for head coach Jamie Ashworth’s side, as UCLA eliminated his team in last year’s NCAA tournament. But the Blue Devils got the job done in impressive fashion.
Duke continued its impressive start to the new season with back-to-back 4-0 wins against No. 23 N.C. State and Middle Tennessee during the ITA Kickoff Weekend. With these dominant victories, the Blue Devils moved on to the National Team Indoor Champions in New York for the first time since 2018.
The 15th-ranked Blue Devils ultimately fell to Auburn 4-2 in the ITA Kickoff Weekend’s Championship match after advancing from their Friday slate.
After a historic 22-7 season featuring a trip to both the ACC championship and the Sweet 16 — losing to eventual national champion Virginia in both — Duke is primed for another deep postseason run. The eighth-ranked team by ITA has the majority of its squad returning, including the entire starting singles lineup.
