The streak probably had little to do with the fiasco that served as another victory for the women's tennis team on Tuesday.
Although the fourth-ranked Blue Devils came out with a 5-3 win over ninth-ranked Wake Forest, the match served up more than just athletic talent in Duke's 12th victory of the season. Amidst controversy and last-minute lineup changes, the Blue Devils kept alive their 70-match Atlantic Coast Conference winning streak.
"It was a circus from the beginning to the end," head coach Jody Hyden said. "It was very difficult to concentrate on the match and focus on the matches. There were a lot of controversies. There were several different things that happened that had nothing to do with tennis."
Among those extraneous factors that Duke had to deal with were warnings to players and spectators in the stands cheering for the Blue Devils, a point penalty against a Duke player during her match and a change of courts when the daylight eclipsed.
After splitting the singles matches, the Demon Deacons and the Blue Devils started the doubles matches, albeit with some lineup changes, with each team needing two of the three matches to claim the win.
Although freshman Kristin Sanderson was scheduled to play both singles and doubles, she became sick after her singles loss and had to withdraw from doubles competition at No. 3 with junior Wendy Fix. With a team as deep as Duke's, this would not usually be a problem. Yet the player that the Blue Devils substituted for Sanderson was sophomore Laura Zifer. Fix and Zifer are ranked fifth in the nation in doubles, and Wake Forest had to debate whether it was acceptable for Duke to place its highest-ranked duo at the third singles slot.
The Demon Deacons eventually consented to the arrangement, and Zifer and Fix paired to take a straight set victory from Wake's Terry Ann Zawacki and Lina Ullring, 6-2, 6-2. Yet before either of the remaining doubles contests could be finished, the courts became too dark and the matches were stopped, resuming shortly thereafter at the Duke Faculty Club, under lighted courts.
"I thought we did a good job of picking up and coming over here [to the Faculty Club] and finishing out a match," Hyden said. "I was pleased that we won, but I think we could have handled ourselves a little bit better in some situations, as well as I think that Wake could have too."
Freshman Vanessa Webb and junior Diana Spadea, after blanking Wake's Maggie Harris and Nicola Maiwai in the first set, opened the second set in a 5-0 deficit to the Demon Deacons, but the Blue Devil pair had battled back to 5-4 before the court change ensued. The Duke tandem took little time to finish off their opponents after the move, clinching the match for the Blue Devils, 6-0, 7-6.
"I think they really wanted to win and they weren't going to let anything stand in their way," Hyden said of his team's attitude in the victory.
Webb, who entered Duke's program after playing on the professional tour, cited the experience of Diana Spadea and herself as a key factor in the crucial victory.
"I think Diana and I just have a lot of experience playing," Webb said. "We've played in a lot of tournaments everywhere and had to deal with a lot of adversity... For [the team] to come up with a win with so much stuff going on and so many distractions, it was really a feat in itself."
The Blue Devils put in a strong showing at the lower singles slots, picking up quick, straight-set wins at the fourth, fifth and sixth spots. Fix cleared her opponent off the court first, sailing through with a 6-0, 6-3 smashing of Ullring. Sophomore Luanne Spadea and Zifer soon finished their respective matches, downing Harris and Cristina Caparis, respectively.
At the No. 1 position, Zawacki-ranked No. 12 in the nation-handed third-ranked Webb only her second loss of the year, 7-6, 6-4, in a two-setter which lasted over two hours. The Demon Deacons also triumphed at second and third singles. Kaiwai ousted freshman Kristin Sanderson in a three-setter, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The marathon match of the day came at No. 2 singles, where Duke's Diana Spadea and Wake's Patty Murren fought for almost three hours before Murren walked away with the win, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
"We played really well at four, five and six singles," Hyden said. "We played really well in doubles.... That's what I was impressed with, because between the singles was when all that stuff was going on. I didn't know how we were going to handle it, but we handled it pretty well."
The win fares well for the rest of the Blue Devils' ACC schedule as they return to action this weekend at home against Georgia Tech and Florida State. The Blue Devils will be aiming for the number one seed in the ACC Tournament, which begins on April 18.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.