The women's tennis team returned from its tour of the Hoosier state this weekend scarcely breaking a sweat. Third-ranked Duke defeated No. 11 Notre Dame 8-1, in a match played Saturday afternoon at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Blue Devils followed up that dominating performance with another equally impressive 8-1 win over Indiana in Bloomington on Sunday.
While the pair of wins looks good on Duke's season match record, coach Jody Hyden was more concerned with how the matches played out in terms of the team's overall goals for the season.
"Every match or two matches we play, we stop and see how our overall plan [for the season] is developing," Hyden said. "After the team indoors, we spent time evaluating where we are now, where we want to go, and how we're going to get there. Our goal for this weekend was to implement those things we've been working on.
"Obviously our first goal is to win the matches, but at the same time, in order for us to improve, we have to start implementing those things we've been talking about. This weekend, we were able to win, using a lot of the things we've been talking about."
The primary goal for Duke has been to increase its overall aggressiveness as a team.
"That's the biggest difference between last year's team and this team," Hyden said. "We have some new players, but the overall program is becoming a more aggressive style and I think that is the key for us to reach our potential. I want us to dictate the games, rather than having to run down balls on the baseline and scrap to win games."
The Blue Devils began their trek towards victory as the doubles tandem of senior Karen O'Sullivan and senior Luanne Spadea defeated an overmatched Irish team, 8-6.
Following their win, the Duke duo of freshman Karin Miller and senior Diana Spadea extended the lead with a 8-3 victory. The final doubles match of the tournament proved to be the lone Duke loss as the team of sophomore Kristin Sanderson and senior Wendy Fix was defeated 8-2 by a Notre Dame duo consisting of sophomore Courtney Haskell and junior Kelley Olson. The Haskell/Olson team provided the Irish with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory in No. 3 doubles.
Despite the loss, the Blue Devils effortlessly regained their composure as they headed into the singles matches. In No. 1 singles, Miller rolled 7-5, 6-3, over Jennifer Hall of Notre Dame.
Performing equally well, O'Sullivan, Luanne Spadea, and Diana Spadea won their singles matches after already coming out victorious in their doubles matches. Fix added another victory as she ran down Notre Dame's Marisa Velasco in a stamina bout 6-1, 7-5.
The final victories of the day were provided by Sanderson, 6-0, 6-2, and Diana Spadea, 6-3, 6-4.
"Notre Dame fought really hard, so for us to go up there and play very aggressive and take a lot of their fight out by finishing points early, that is a credit to our team," Hyden said. "We accomplished our goal and still won the match. Its fun to see it work."
In Sunday's match with the Hoosiers, Duke came up on the winning side of every match except No. 6 singles ,where Ellen McCance came out on the losing end.
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