The third-ranked women's tennis team continued its run of domination, knocking off No. 17 Notre Dame 8-1 Saturday afternoon in its last home match of the year.
"It was easily our best match of the year," Duke coach Jamie Ashworth said. "Notre Dame, they're a team we've had a little bit of trouble with. One through six, and even the doubles, everyone played their best. Mentally it was the best we've played all year."
The Blue Devils took all six singles matches in straight sets. At No. 1 singles, junior Vanessa Webb, ranked third in the country, rolled over No. 22 Jennifer Hall, 6-3, 6-3.
Junior Karen Goldstein started out strong in the No. 4 spot, cruising to a 6-2 first set win over Tiffany Gates. A rapid victory began to look doubtful in the second set, however, as Goldstein repeatedly missed shots and slammed the ball out of bounds, allowing Gates to pull out to a 4-3 lead. But Gates wouldn't win any more games on Saturday, as Goldstein rallied to a 6-4 second-set win.
"I felt like I couldn't get the ball in the court," Goldstein said. "I was really upset because I was playing really well in the first set and I lost I don't know how many points. I was just getting really ticked.
"I just took my time and slowed it down a little bit, and concentrated on moving my feet, just basic stuff. I just wanted to play basic tennis, and I just had to concentrate on doing that."
Coming from behind, especially in the second set, appeared to be the order of the day for Duke. Junior Kristin Sanderson recovered from a 2-1 second-set deficit to garner a 6-4, 6-4 win over Michelle Dasso at the No. 2 spot. At No. 6 singles, senior Laura Zifer defeated Kim Guy 6-4 in the first set after trailing 4-3. Guy also won the first game in the second set, but Zifer came away with another 6-4 victory.
"That's one area where we have to improve after you win a first set it's important to start off the second set like the first set," Ashworth said. "If you win a first set and lose the first couple games of the second set, you give your opponent confidence, and that's where we need to keep putting on pressure."
Sanderson and freshman Megan Miller both recorded upsets over higher-ranked opponents. The 41st-ranked Sanderson fought past No. 19 Dasso, and No. 79 Miller clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-2 romp over 69th-ranked Marisa Velasco in the No. 3 spot.
The Blue Devils carried their intensity into the doubles competition. In several previous matches when Duke swept singles, the level of its play dropped going into doubles. Saturday, though, the Blue Devils didn't miss a beat heading into doubles.
Webb and Goldstein trounced the Fighting Irish's No. 1 doubles team of Gates and Hall, 8-2, while Sanderson and Miller won an 8-4 decision over Dasso and Velasco.
"Our doubles today as a whole was better than it's been in the past," Ashworth said. "There were probably five or six matches where we really did not play good doubles. Notre Dame's a team that beat Wake Forest easily; they played Texas closer than we did, Florida closer than we did, and so we really wanted to come out and have better scores against them than those schools. We had to carry that into doubles, and they did. They came out with emotion and intensity in the first point of the doubles match."
Duke lost its only point of the match at No. 3 doubles, as senior Ellen McCance and sophomore Brooke Siebel dropped a 9-7 decision to Kelley Olson and Kelly Zalinski. Saturday's match was the first time Siebel and McCance played together this season. McCance played with Zifer in the third doubles slot in Duke's win over Florida State Thursday. Previously, Siebel had teamed up with freshman Kathy Sell, who defeated Zalinski, 7-5, 6-2, at No. 5 singles Saturday.
Duke will next face North Carolina Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Chapel Hill.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.