If there were any questions about the toughest obstacle in the women's tennis team's 8-1 victory over North Carolina on Tuesday afternoon, the answers were probably blowin' in the wind.
No. 6 Duke (15-4, 5-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) easily dispatched of the Tar Heels (8-10, 1-4 ACC) at Duke Tennis Stadium.
"Maybe our biggest opponent today was the wind," senior Monica Mraz said. "It was really tough out here and swirling. It really favors the underdog, but I think we did a good job of handling it today."
Mraz had little difficulty handling the blustery conditions. She breezed by UNC's Inge Commissaris, 6-0, 6-0, at the No. 1 singles position.
"You don't get that many matches that go that quickly at No. 1," Mraz said. "It was a good day for me. I think I really needed this mentally."
Although the score could not have been more lopsided, it was not because of Commissaris' lack of effort. Mraz's strong play was the main reason for the double-bagel score.
"That's an accomplishment--not to give up a service break and to hold every time," head coach Hyden said. "But I give [Commissaris] credit. She had a good attitude and she fought hard, and even at the end she was still fighting. She could have tanked, and she didn't. But the key was that Monica was really solid."
Freshman Laura Zifer stayed on the court longer than Mraz. Zifer was stretched to three sets at No. 3 by UNC's Freddy Uihlein. But the southpaw pulled out her 16th singles win of her Duke career, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
Senior Wendy Lyons and sophomores Karen O'Sullivan and Wendy Fix all won straight-set singles matches. Freshman Ellen McCance was the only Blue Devil to drop her match. She lost 6-1, 0-6, 6-0 to J.C. Biber at the No. 6 position.
Although Duke had already clinched a victory after the singles matches were completed, it did not show any signs of lackadaisical play in doubles. The Blue Devils have been working on their doubles play in practice recently.
"We've been working more on communication," Hyden said. "We've been working more on fundamentals of doubles. It's getting better."
Duke's top two doubles teams coasted to relatively easy victories. However, O'Sullivan and McCance had to fight hard for their victory at the No. 3 position. Although the Duke duo took a 6-2 first set from UNC's Robyn Gurney and Alison Levy, the second set was a nail-biter. The Tar Heel tandem bolted out to a 4-0 lead and then held a 5-2 edge after a mild Duke comeback.
Then O'Sullivan and McCance won three straight games to even the score. After UNC held serve to go up 6-5, McCance won four straight points on serve to send the set into a tiebreaker.
The Blue Devil pair had to come back again in the tiebreaker, but Duke fought back for an 8-6 victory.
"Their success is a big part of our team," said Hyden of his No. 3 doubles duo. "It is very important that they improve and that they continue to fight hard at No. 3 doubles. The No. 3 doubles spot is just as important as the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles.
"When they were down 5-2, I told them that they are a good team and they should come back and win this match. And that's what they did. They came back and accomplished their goal. They did it by not missing balls and making the other team play."
The Blue Devils had been looking to work on their aggressiveness against UNC. They came into the match trying to attack the net more.
"I think that Karen O'Sullivan probably played more aggressively than normal," Hyden said. "I also think that Wendy Fix did. Both of those girls today played aggressive and they came in a lot."
Tuesday's win gave Duke sports fans what has become a rare feat this season--a victory over the Tar Heels. But for the members of the team, getting an ACC win was important, regardless of whom the opponent was.
"Any ACC match that we play we get very excited about--no matter what their ranking is--because we'd like to do well in the ACC first and then do well at the national level," Hyden said. "The girls were excited to play today because we knew that UNC was pumped up to play us."
Hyden also feels that it was a good test for the squad to play in adverse weather conditions.
"We always have the attitude that if it's real windy and it's cold, then that's the greatest day to practice, because that will be the worst condition that you'll play in," Hyden said. "Tennis is usually ugly in the wind because the ball is blowing around, and you can't get your feet set. But I don't think anybody complained about it."
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