The Blue Devils (18-3) completed their home schedule with a match that actually started and finished on the same courts. Darkness and rain have forced Duke to finish its matches on other locales several times this season. The team's two most recent contests were finished on the indoor courts at the Chapel Hill Tennis Club.
"It was nice not to have to, halfway through the match, drive over to Chapel Hill," head coach Jody Hyden said. "Today was a sunny day, but it was windy and cold. I think our team can handle pretty much any kind of weather conditions. We've been through it all."
Duke did not seem to be bothered by the chilling winds, though, as it clinched the match without having to compete in doubles.
"We beat them in singles, only lost one match and we didn't have any other three-setters," Hyden said. "That's impressive. I'm proud of them. They did a great job."
Even though the final score was lopsided, Hyden said his team came through by playing excellent matches, not by shaming the Gamecocks (13-8).
"South Carolina has been an up-and-down team," he said. "We just talked about expecting the match to be a battle, and expecting their toughest team to show up. I think that we made it very difficult on them in the beginning in a lot of matches, and you could see some of the second set scores were one-sided our way. I think that's just from making it tough early, and I don't think they wanted to battle us that much in a lot of the second sets."
Junior Wendy Fix started the match off on a positive note, crushing South Carolina's Tracy Kotseos without giving up a single game.
"Wendy Fix obviously played very well," Hyden said. "She won 6-0, 6-0, against a player that's a good player. So I would say that she did exceptionally well. I thought everybody did a good job."
Freshman Vanessa Webb followed Fix off the court with a 6-1, 6-2 downing of Gamecock Heather Greene. Junior Diana Spadea and sophomore Luanne Spadea picked up two more points for the Blue Devils at Nos. 3 and 5, respectively, each player winning with identical scores of 7-5, 6-2.
Junior Karen O'Sullivan clinched the match for Duke at No. 6 with another 7-5, 6-2 decision. O'Sullivan decided the victory by finishing off USC's Sophie Ljucovic less than two hours after the match began.
The only South Carolina point on the day came at the No. 2 position, at which freshman Kristin Sanderson lost a heartbreaking three-set match. Gamecock Celine Regnier outlasted Sanderson, 7-6, 1-6, 7-5.
Despite the lopsided victories that the Blue Devils have had in their past few matches, Hyden still sees room for improvement in his team.
"I think we need to still focus on being disciplined in our points and also, as a whole, our emotional stability throughout matches, especially the long matches," Hyden said. "I think we need to be emotionally more stable and not so up and down-more level in emotions all the way through matches. I think that's going to be the key to our success the rest of the season."
Duke hits the road this weekend to take on Atlantic Coast Conference foes Virginia and Maryland on Saturday and Sunday, before charging up for the ACC Tournament, held April 18-21 in Greenwood, S.C.
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