How good is Duke's women's tennis team? Good enough that the nation's No. 1 player plays second on her own team.
That was the case Wednesday afternoon at Duke Tennis Stadium as the fourth-ranked Blue Devils (16-3, 6-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) blanked archrival North Carolina (5-12, 2-3), 9-0, lengthening their ACC winning streak to 86 consecutive matches.
Sophomore Vanessa Webb, the country's No. 1 player until a shoulder injury sidelined her in late January, returned to first singles play for Duke after spending the past week playing second singles coming off the injury. In the process, freshman Karin Miller, who earned the top ranking in women's college tennis Tuesday, ended up playing at second singles.
"They were both ranked number one in the country this year, and I think either one of them can play one," Duke coach Jamie Ashworth said. "And I think either one of them will do well, just depending on who we're playing and who's playing better that day."
Webb more than responded to the challenge, shutting out her opponent, UNC's Jessica Zaganczyk, 6-0, 6-0. Webb executed her traditional serve and volley style of play as fluidly as she has since returning, ending many points with authoritative overheads or precision down-the-line winners. The win moved Webb to a perfect 13-0 on the season.
"This is by far the best I've played since I came back," Webb said. "I'm sort of getting my footwork back plus my feel around the court. All the little things are starting to come back."
Ashworth's decision to play Webb at No. 1 allowed him to evaluate her response to the pressures of playing in the top position again.
"I think Vanessa played well, but there are little things that she needs to do better," Ashworth said. "I think as she plays more matches, she'll be more comfortable. It was also big for her playing number one for the first time this year. Mentally, she put a little more pressure on herself."
At second singles, Miller struggled at first with the Tar Heels' J.C. Biber, before returning to form to dismiss her opponent, 6-2, 6-2. The win was the 34th of the year for Miller and her 11th straight. She has not dropped a single set in those 11 matches.
In doubles action, Miller and Webb continued to play together, this time at No. 1. The 13th-ranked duo broke serve to open the match, only to be broken back by UNC's Cena Hackley and Zaganczyk. Miller and Webb cruised through the next seven games, however, winning the match 8-1.
"[Our doubles play] is getting better," Webb said. "Today was the best we've played together. Before, we were struggling with holding my serve and normally that's a given, but now we're really getting back in sync."
The fifth-ranked tandem of Karen O'Sullivan and Luanne Spadea competed at second doubles for Duke, blanking the Tar Heels' Alison Levy and Sarah Hawkins, 8-0. At third doubles, the 22nd-ranked pair of Wendy Fix and Kristin Sanderson struggled, but came out with the 8-6 win over Biber and Jeni Burnette.
"Kristin and Wendy had an unbelievable fall, but it has probably been three or four weeks since they've played together," Ashworth said. "And they will probably be our three team heading into ACCs and NCAAs, so they just need to play together some more and get used to being together."
Stronger doubles play has been one of the team goals this year because the Blue Devils believe that doubles could make the difference in the NCAA Tournament.
"I think we still have to do a better job with our fundamentals in doubles," Ashworth said. "I think we have to get more first serves in and make more first volleys. We haven't had much time to work on doubles lately though, and we'll have all next week to work on doubles, which is what we're going to do."
Duke won the remainder of its singles matches in straight sets. Senior Diana Spadea had the easiest time with her opposition, downing Levy 6-1, 6-1, at No. 5 singles. At sixth singles, the 65th-ranked Sanderson was almost equally as dominating, eliminating Burnette 6-2, 6-3.
At No. 3 singles, Luanne Spadea pulled out a tight match against Hawkins, 7-5, 7-5, while Fix labored through her first set against Hackler before cruising through the second for the 7-5, 6-1 win.
"I think we played a very tired match today," Ashworth said. "When we had to hit the shots to win we did, but I don't think in all nine matches that we played as disciplined as we wanted to."
Despite the small problems, the Blue Devils did manage to dominate their rivals-the significance of which is not lost on any of the Duke players.
"We've been losing to UNC in some of the other sports this year, so it's good to solidly beat them," she said.
Duke returns to action this weekend with two home matches. Saturday at 2:30 p.m. the Blue Devils take on Kentucky, and Sunday they face Maryland at 11 a.m.
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