In Dallas, revenge is a dish best served cold-one year cold.
After falling to Duke's Karen Goldstein and Vanessa Webb in the second round of last year's Rolex Indoor Championships, Marissa Caitlin and Vanessa Castellano of Georgia played the trump card in this rivalry, knocking off Webb and Goldstein for the tournament title in Dallas Saturday.
"We played well, but at different times," Goldstein said of the championship showdown. "I would play well and Vanessa would be missing her shots, then she'd play well and I'd be missing my shots. We just couldn't string it together; we couldn't get both of us playing well at the same time."
But for the Duke duo, this weekend's race to the finals of the third collegiate grand slam showed that even though they may no longer be the nation's top-ranked team, they aren't far behind.
"In everyone else's opinion I guess this shows we're there," Goldstein said. "But I've always known we're good. I know how we can play and who we could beat and who we should beat."
The finals appearance marked the second straight time the Blue Devils' top doubles team filled out half of the championship bracket. It was also the third straight year Duke was represented in the finals and the second time in as many grand slams the pair have played that they made the final.
But revenge did not belong to Georgia alone. For Webb and Goldstein, their second-round victory over reigning NCAA champions Amy Jensen and Amanda Augustus of California was made even sweeter by the memories of last year's three-set loss in the NCAA semifinals.
"It's the most satisfying win of the season so far," Goldstein said. "Then again, the season is only three weeks old, but it's still a good win."
The Blue Devil pair was also able to exercise a few demons from last year's tournament. Their semifinal victory over Stanford's top duo of Teryn Ashley and Marissa Gwen marked a revisiting of sorts of last year's finals matchup that saw the Cardinal's tandem of Ania Bleszynski and Julie Scott emerge with the title.
Neither Webb nor Goldstein, who also doubled as Duke's singles entrants, survived past the second round individually. Webb, the defending NCAA singles champion, was knocked out by Ashley, while Goldstein lost to Kris Sell of Kansas.
"Vanessa played a great competitor, but she's used to making it further than the round of 16, so she was a little upset," Goldstein said. "I played fine, not badly. I just had some opportunities I didn't take advantage of. There were a lot of games that were 40-15 that I didn't win, so that was a little distressing. It was a close match, so if I win a few, maybe it could've gone the other way."
But none of the Duke successes can remove the team's focus from its ultimate goal, which remains the team NCAA title. The Blue Devils will find themselves against the best measuring stick for that goal next weekend at the Team Indoor Championships.
"[Individual successes] are satisfying for each individual," Goldstein said. "But you don't prove yourself in an individual tournament. Where we want to prove ourselves is in two tournaments, the [Team Indoors] and the NCAAs."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.