The No. 3 women's tennis team kicked off its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule with an 8-1 pasting of N.C. State (2-6 overall, 0-3 in the ACC) Wednesday afternoon at Duke Tennis Stadium. The Blue Devils moved to 8-2 overall on the season with the win and extended their ACC match winning streak to an astounding 81.
Freshman Karin Miller led the way as she dismissed the Wolfpack's Blair Sutton, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 1 singles. Miller thrived off of her trademark relentless baseline game for most of the match, but at times exhibited the aggressiveness that coach Jody Hyden has been looking for from his entire team.
"Every second ball [Sutton] hit pretty short, so I was on the attack from the second ball in almost every rally," Miller said. "I tried to serve and volley more than I usually do and make my game more aggressive."
Hyden seemed please with Miller's opportunism in altering her game.
"When she gets her girl stretched out, wide to one side and the girl floats the ball, that's when she's got to take the ball out of the air," Hyden said. "It just makes the match easier if she's able to do that."
Senior Wendy Fix was almost equally as dominating at No. 2 singles as she trounced State's Nena Bonacic, 6-0, 6-1. Senior Karen O'Sullivan was tested by State's grunting Marissa Geldemeister, but emerged with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles.
Freshman Brooke Siebel competed at No. 5 singles, marking the first time she has taken the court in a dual match and played singles for the Blue Devils. Siebel made short work of the Wolfpack's Elizabeth Perry, winning 6-1, 6-3.
"She played great for her first dual match at Duke," Hyden said. "I want her to get some matches, because you never know when you're going to have injuries and she's going to need to play. For her to get matches this time of the season is a definite plus."
With Diana Spadea's default win at No. 6 singles, Duke sealed the win over State before the completion of sophomore Kristin Sanderson's match at No. 4 singles. After dropping the first set 6-4 to the Pack's Laura Cowman, Sanderson continued to battle back as her teammates watched from the stands. Sanderson finally succumbed however, 7-5 in the second set.
In the doubles competition, the Blue Devils continued to dominate as O'Sullivan and senior Luanne Spadea downed Sutton and Bonacic 8-2 at No. 1, while Miller and Diana Spadea knocked off Cowman and Geldemeister 8-4 at No. 2. Sanderson and Fix took the third doubles match by default.
Both defaults resulted from a lack of healthy and eligible players on the Wolfpack roster as one team member was out due to illness and the other three unavailable due to probation.
Despite the lopsided final score, Hyden saw room for improvement Wednesday.
"This was our first outdoor match, and I could tell this was our first outdoor match," he said. "I felt like we weren't quite as acclimated to the courts. We didn't play quite as aggressive as we have been, but then again, you're not able to play quite as aggressive on a slower court. Indoor, the points are a lot quicker, so today we had to play longer points and take our time setting up.
"Its going to take us a few matches before we set up points the way we should outside. Its just a different game."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.