A "battle for the ages" is not exactly the best description for recent Duke-Maryland women's tennis matches.
And Sunday afternoon's contest with the Terrapins proved no different.
The Blue Devils, fresh off a rare loss to South Carolina, rolled past the overmatched Terrapins, 9-0, to improve to a league-best 8-0 heading into next weekend's ACC tournament.
With a possible first-round pairing with Maryland in the ACCs looming, round one of this year's matchup went solidly to the Blue Devils.
"We went in wanting to beat them really bad as a precedent going into next week's ACCs," senior Wendy Lyons said.
"They're a team we'll probably play in four days at the ACC tournament, so it's a real confidence booster for us, knowing that we beat them so solidly today," senior Monica Mraz said. "We've instilled some fear in them going into the weekend."
Fear indeed.
The Blue Devils won every match in straight sets. And of the six singles matches, none were ever in any doubt as the Duke players lost only 15 total games in the six singles matches.
Mraz and Lyons rolled in their matches, winning 6-0, 6-1, and 6-2, 6-3, respectively. The rest of the team played just as convincingly, shutting the door on any chance of a Terrapin upset.
"None of the matches were really close," Lyons said. "I don't think they really fought hard. I never got a feeling that they thought they could beat us."
"We were just much more confident than they were and we were a better team," head coach Jody Hyden said. "I felt that we really took advantage of every situation."
That kind of confidence will serve the team well as it looks ahead to a challenging weekend.
"It helped our confidence," Hyden said. "Really, you just try to build on that and take that confidence into your next practice to get ready for next weekend's ACCs."
The match served as a tune-up for a Blue Devil team hoping to win its eighth straight ACC title. Currently ranked sixth in the nation, the team clearly outclassed the Terrapins.
Duke boasts a talented lineup, including four singles players ranked in the top 100 and the second-ranked doubles team in the country. Maryland, on the other hand, has no top players on its roster, as is clearly evident from the match scores.
But can such a one-sided victory be that important to a team with lofty goals? According to Hyden, the Blue Devils take every match seriously and use easy matches as chances to achieve certain specific goals.
"We accomplished all of our goals this weekend--we played well, we didn't miss shots, and we really played tough," Hyden said.
Aside from the match, the weekend also provided a rare opportunity for the squad to get away from the pressures of tennis and to tour a hosting city.
The Blue Devils arrived in the Washington, D.C., area on Friday afternoon, giving them an entire Saturday to spend away from the spotlight of competition.
"A couple of people had family up there, so we kind of made a holiday weekend out of it," Mraz said. "The long trip gave us a chance to kick back and take it easy in the middle of a long season."
The Washington visit also served as a homecoming of sorts for assistant coach Jamie Ashworth.
Ashworth, in his first season with the Blue Devils, graduated from and coached at Maryland last year.
"In the afternoon, we toured D.C.," Hyden said. "It's good to go to another place and do something besides just going to the hotel and the courts. We tried to do something different."
For a holiday weekend spent away from campus, the Blue Devils did their best to make the most of it.
"It was a rare chance to have a little fun on the road," Mraz said. "It gets so hectic playing so many matches, so it's nice to have a chance to see the places we go to."
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