CHAPEL HILL--Members of the women's tennis team often encourage and congratulate each other after a hard-fought point by saying "So tough." And tough they were last Friday.
Despite two injuries, the No. 6 Blue Devils were able to hold off No. 20 Brigham Young for a 5-4 win at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill.
"We got through a lot of adversity today," head coach Jody Hyden said. "Anytime we beat a team like BYU with the things that went on today, it's just awesome. We were fighters today."
The match started off on a bad note when senior Wendy Lyons was forced to default at the No. 2 position due to a strained rotator cuff. Lyons had felt some pain the day before but decided to start playing the match anyway. After winning the first game against BYU's Jen Soret, Lyons realized the pain was too great for her to serve the second game, at which point she defaulted the match.
"It's not worth hurting something so early in the season that might make me sit out later," Lyons said.
"Wendy's such a fighter she would have loved to have just served underhanded to try and finish the match," Hyden said. "But the season's early and there's no reason to see her get hurt."
Duke compensated for the default by quickly winning its next two matches with senior Monica Mraz at the No. 1 position and sophomore Karen O'Sullivan at the No. 4 spot.
BYU battled back, though. Sophomore Wendy Fix achieved Duke's last singles win of the afternoon. At the No. 3 spot, freshman Laura Zifer was defeated by Angela Nelson, 6-4, 6-3.
In the only three-set match between the two teams, freshman Ellen McCance sprained her wrist when she went wide for a ball and fell, landing on her hand. The injury both physically and mentally affected McCance. Down 2-4 in the second set when the incident occurred, she dropped the next two games and then fell 6-0 in the final set.
Heading into the doubles portion of the match, Duke was even with the Cougars at 3-3.
Mraz and O'Sullivan paired up at No. 1 doubles, and although the second set was close, with both teams trading games, the Duke duo won with relative ease, 6-3, 6-4.
The deciding match then came down to No. 2 doubles where Fix and Zifer battled Julie Menefee and Michael Domanico. In the first set, the Blue Devils broke away from a close 3-2 advantage by winning three straight games.
The second set would not prove to be as easy. With the score 4-3 in Duke's favor, the teams went to deuce, and BYU won to even the score. Again at deuce in the next game, the tables turned and Duke edged ahead, 5-4.
The team appeared to be heading for victory when Fix and Zifer jumped out to an early 40-0 lead. At match point, however, BYU hit a deep lob which bounced on the baseline, cutting the celebrations short. The shot seemed to motivate the Cougars, as they came back and won the game.
In the next game, there was a dispute over whether or not a let was called by Menefee. Menefee claimed she had, but the official didn't hear it. This gave Duke a 40-15 advantage and the momentum to win the game.
Yet BYU wasn't through. The Cougars were able to take the next game, again at deuce, to force a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, BYU lost its steam. Fix and Zifer dominated, winning easily 7-2.
"Today was really a total team effort--everyone contributed because they had to," Hyden said. "Adversity didn't bother us, and that means we're on our way to being a really good team."
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