While many students went south for spring break, the women's tennis team chose a different destination-it headed to the Midwest.
The results were impressive as No. 5 Duke (10-2) easily handled Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee before coming home and dispatching of defending national champion Texas.
"We played very well over the break," Duke head coach Jody Hyden said. "I felt like we were very focused. Having a week with just tennis really helped our team."
The stretch began with an 8-1 win over Indiana. The Blue Devils swept all six singles matches and suffered only one loss, when their No. 1 doubles team of freshmen Vanessa Webb and Kristin Sanderson dropped an 8-5 decision.
But Webb, ranked fourth in the nation, and Sanderson led Duke in the top two singles spots. Webb won a third-set tiebreaker to top Natasha Joshi while Sanderson only dropped one game in her 6-0, 6-1 win over Lill Coetsee.
"Although we beat them two years ago, we are definitely not at Duke's level this year," Hoosiers head coach Lin Loring said.
Duke continued its road trip to Kentucky and Tennessee. The Blue Devils dominated the Wildcats and Volunteers, with scores of 8-1 and 9-0, respectively. They didn't drop any of their singles matches in either contest.
While Duke easily handled the three midwestern opponents, they took advantage of the time together, away from classes. Hyden feels the time away spent furthered the cohesiveness and chemistry among the players.
"We really became much more of a team over spring break," Hyden said. "We got to spend a lot of time together and really bond."
The Blue Devils returned home last Thursday to take on the third-ranked University of Texas. Duke took arguably its biggest win of the year, 6-3.
The match began on a strong note when Webb defeated No. 13 Sandy Sureephong, 6-3, 6-1. But Sanderson and sophomore Laura Zifer dropped close three-set matches to the Longhorns, putting Texas up 2-1.
Duke recovered with wins at four through six singles by juniors Wendy Fix, Karen O'Sullivan and Diana Spadea. All three split the first two sets but took the third sets 6-2, 6-2 and 6-0, respectively. The doubles teams of Webb/Diana Spadea and O'Sullivan/Luanne Spadea also toppled Texas to seal the mild upset.
Though Hyden feels the entire team played well, several Duke players added to their impressive overall records. Webb improved her dual record to a perfect 11-0, 37-4 overall. O'Sullivan increased her dual record to 8-2 while Diana Spadea is now 6-1.
With a five-game winning streak in hand, Duke now must prepare for two home matches this weekend, against Florida and William & Mary. The team will further look to show improvement, as they were beaten 5-1 by Florida just three weeks ago.
"We're not where we want to be yet but we're getting there," Hyden said. "This past week was a big step in the right direction."
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