When Lise Gregory took over the Florida State women's tennis program in the 1996-97 season, she had one goal in mind: to become one of the nation's top 10 teams within the next three years. When Jamie Ashworth took over the Duke women's tennis program in the middle of the 1997 season, his goals were somewhat higher: to lead the Blue Devils to their first NCAA title.
After Thursday's 8-1 flattening of the visiting Seminoles (10-10, 1-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) in Chapel Hill's Cone-Kenfield tennis center, it looks like Ashworth and his No. 3 Blue Devils (19-3, 7-0) might be closer to the top than FSU is to the top-10.
"It was a good match; they were really fired up, pumped up to play us," junior Karen Goldstein said. "They've lost some 5-4 (decisions) this year, so they're right there. They played pretty well, but I'd like to think we're better. They just couldn't beat us today. "
Although Duke still has yet to hold the nation's top ranking at any point during the year, being No. 1 is an old hat to top-seed Vanessa Webb. A winner in her last seven matches, Webb continued to dominate her competition, dropping just one game Thursday.
"She played a typical Vanessa match in ACC," Ashworth said. "She takes her opponent's confidence away right at the beginning. Today she moved better at the night than she has in a while. Her reflexes and volleys are better. Her whole game is coming together at a good time."
Although her opponent Thursday, Nanette Duxon, has yet to crack the top-100, the third-ranked Webb, in the eyes of her coach, has picked up her game and become a more versatile and dangerous player.
"Vanessa primarily is a serve and volleyer, so when someone could keep her at the baseline she had problems," Ashworth said. "If you look at who she lost to in the last two and a half years, it has been to baseliners who hit the ball really hard. She needed to become a more aggressive baseliner. She lost a couple early, but I told her she will become better, and her ground strokes have become better and she believes in her shots."
Webb has not been alone in feasting on lower-ranked competition. She now leads a trio of Duke players, along with No. 4 seed Goldstein and No. 5 seed Kathy Sell, riding seven-match win streaks following straight-set victories Thursday. But perhaps even more important than the points the wins bring in is the confidence they instill.
"The biggest thing [the win streak] does is it brings confidence for when they get to the ACC tournament and the NCAA's," Ashworth said. "They believe they can win-they believe in themselves and they believe in their shots. In seven matches they've played great, and they've discovered they can do other things on the court to win if they're not playing well. They can find ways to win, which is important because we're not going to get all nine [matches] on in the same day."
In her 28th victory of the season, the only thing that changed for Goldstein was the court. Playing No. 3 in place of Megan Miller, the regular No. 3, Goldstein wasted no time in doing what she does best-burying Florida State's Kia Asberg beneath a barrage of huge ground strokes, finishing her match in typical form, quickly.
"She hit the girl off the court," Ashworth said. "She's setting up points better, but she still needs to improve at net, but she's setting up points better now to make volleys easier."
With continuing improvement up and down the lineup, confidence and talent are not something this Duke team is short on.
"We're doing well," Goldstein said. "We've worked hard. There were things we learned at beginning of season that we needed to work on and we have been doing them. It's just a matter of believing we can be No. 1. It definitely is possible. We've come a long way since beginning of the season."
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