It was billed as the ITA Southeast Regional Indoor Championship, but for all intents and purposes, for the Duke women's tennis team it could have been called practice.
A tournament-high six seeded Blue Devils and seven Duke players total competed in the Southeast Regional Indoors in Winston-Salem, and by Monday's final a still-tournament-high three of them had found their way into the main draw of the Rolex Indoor Championships.
Megan Miller and Kathy Sell spearheaded the Duke attack, capturing their first tournament title of the season. The No. 3-seeded tandem fought off early-round problems to clinch a berth in the national tournament with a straight-set final-round victory.
"It was a really great performance," said Miller, who was also the tournament's top-seeded singles player. "We clicked so well at this tournament. Everything we had been working on in the last few months just fell into place. We tried a lot of things we hadn't done before, and we capitalized on them. We were very aggressive, very positive."
After disappointing results in their only three tournaments this fall, Miller attributed this success to a regained familiarity with each other.
"The season has definitely been a progression for us," she said. "We've been working on a lot of different things. It was just a matter of time before we clicked as a team. Now we have an opportunity to take it to a national level.
"This was the first time we proved what we can really do. We went through the whole draw and won the tourney, unlike at summer Nationals where we lost the finals. Now we're getting to know each other's games, and we're comfortable on the court together."
While Duke's top doubles entry was proving what it could do for the first time, senior Karen Goldstein found herself in an eerily familiar position. For the second straight year Goldstein watched as her final-round opponent, Wake Forest's Mariel Verban walked off with the title in a three-set match.
Unlike last year, however, Goldstein came out slow, rallying from down a set and 3-0 to extend the match.
"I feel like I did well throughout the tournament," Goldstein said. "There were things I feel I definitely could work on, but I didn't do anything horrible. I played consistently."
And for the second time this season, Goldstein found herself up against another Blue Devil-Megan Miller.
"Its horrible," Goldstein said curtly about playing teammates. "I hate it. Its so hard to play my teammates. Its really intense, especially in this tournament, because you want to win so badly to qualify."
Fortunately for Goldstein, her worries proved unnecessary. The three Duke qualifiers will join Vanessa Webb at the Rolex Indoor Championships Feb. 4-7.
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