About a year ago, both Jamie Ashworth and Kristin Sanderson used the term 'rebuilding' to characterize the plight of the women's tennis team as it prepared to enter the 1997-98 season.
Apparently, rebuilding happens more quickly for some than others.
Duke rebuilt for a few minutes, and then returned to its customary habit of winning match after match. And this year, the Blue Devils (27-4) finally broke through on both the team and individual level.
After falling to Stanford in the national semifinals the last two years, Duke met the Cardinal again in May and this time toppled Stanford in dramatic fashion, 5-4, to reach its first-ever championship match, where the Blue Devils fell to Florida, 5-1. Just a week later, then-junior Vanessa Webb completed a dominant run in singles by topping Stanford's Ania Bleszynski and winning the University's seventh individual NCAA Championship.
"That's the best two weeks for our women's tennis program that you can imagine," said Ashworth, who just completed his first full season as head coach. "It was a great two weeks for us."
The success centered around the Stanford match. In the previous two years, the Cardinal controlled Duke by avoiding doubles. This time, the Blue Devils split the six singles
Stanford actually won the No. 2 doubles match easily and led the other two before Duke made a dramatic comeback that turned four hours of grueling tennis into a groundbreaking afternoon.
Kathy Sell and Brooke Siebel first evened the match at four by rallying from a 5-6 deficit and two subsequent break points in the 12th game to win their match, 8-6. Then all eyes focused on court No. 1, where Webb and Karen Goldstein battled Stanford's Anne Kremer and Teryn Ashley.
"As soon as Kathy and Brooke's match finished, I started a sentence and I said to Karen, 'This is what...' and Karen turns to me and says '...it's all about," Webb said. "That's what I came to college for. It's just the most unbelievable feeling, and we really took it to them."
Webb and Goldstein rallied from 4-6 down to take the next four games and the match. A forehand smash for Webb drove home the upset win as the rest of the Blue Devils mobbed their teammates at the net.
A day later, Florida (27-0) showed that Duke still has one more obstacle to overcome, as the Gators rolled to the 5-1 win. Laura Zifer recorded the Blue Devils' only point, and the championship ended when Webb and Sell both lost tight three-set matches within a span of 30 seconds.
"Everyone was up and down in the score; we felt like it could have gone either way," Zifer said. "But they came out in the end-they deserve it. They played great."
Remarkably, Webb and Goldstein bounced back the next day no worse for the wear. In doubles, the two reached the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Amanda Augustus and Amy Jensen from California, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3.
In singles, however, Webb would not be denied. The No. 4 seed never dropped a set in her five-day run to the title and, with the win, receives a wild card to the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 31 in New York.
"You go to college for the team; if you weren't there for the team, you wouldn't go to college, you would just play," Webb said. "But it feels great. There is a lot of pressure in that you only have four chances to win the singles title. I'm happy I've been able to do it this year."
All in all, a pretty impressive rebuilding year.
"The beginning of the year, we really didn't know what to expect," Ashworth said. "The way this team came together really helped us and is going to continue to help us. No one can take away what these girls did during what was supposed to be a rebuilding year."
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