Call it a lesson in statistics.
In tennis, there is such a thing as good team efforts and bad team efforts. When it comes to doubles competition, the women's tennis team's seeds by committee formula has been the latter.
Of course, with the No. 2 team, all complaints are relative.
Although Duke has run out to an impressive 4-1 start, it hasn't been on the strength of the three doubles points. In their five total matches, the Blue Devils have contested 45 points-30 singles matches and 15 doubles matches. In those 45 individual matchups, Duke has lost just nine total points, but four of those nine have come from the three doubles points in a match.
While losing one out of three points in doubles wouldn't bother the average team, it has Jamie Ashworth, the coach of a team with its eyes firmly on the national championship, just a little worried.
"We're trying to find three doubles teams that can win if we're down 4-2," he said. "We want to find that lineup to have the confidence to know we can get it done in doubles when we need to."
But there's a caveat to the 11-out-of-15 success rate-a caveat ranked No. 4 in the nation. While Ashworth has had trouble locating a lineup for the bottom two spots, Duke's senior tandem of Karen Goldstein and Vanessa Webb has dominated the top spot, beating a slew of top-10 doubles teams in both dual team matches and tournaments. At 5-0 the top Blue Devils are not only the winningest doubles combination in dual team matches, but they're also the most prolific overall.
Which doesn't leave a great percentage for the rest of the lineup.
Although Brooke Siebel and Kathy Sell have played every dual match together at the No. 3 seed and picked up a 4-1 record to boot, the pair hasn't played together extensively since last year, when they were the ACC's top team at their position. Sell's partner during much of the summer and fall, with whom she qualified for the Rolex Indoor Tournament, Megan Miller, has found herself tossed around at No. 2, where the Blue Devils have used three different combinations en route to an uncharacteristic 2-3 dual-match record.
During last week's three-match weekend, Ashworth had hoped to solidify his doubles lineup, but now it seems the lineup will receive a baptism by fire at the Team Indoors in Madison, Wis., which starts today.
Fortunately for Duke, the draw will allow Ashworth's squad to dodge the two biggest names in women's tennis, reigning NCAA champion Florida and reigning Indoors champion Stanford, until the finals. The third-seeded Blue Devils play Pepperdine today at 9 a.m., but will likely face their stiffest competition before the finals against second-seeded Georgia.
But in a game of trends and tendencies, Ashworth knows that this tournament, the most important tournament on the schedule outside of the NCAAs, will give back his Duke netters exactly what they put in.
"This is one of the weeks our season is geared towards," Ashworth said. "If we play well, we can win it. Hopefully we're ready."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.