Odd Couple reunited at Duke

The question hung in the air for a moment, melting into the blue of a lazy April afternoon. Seated a tier above her teammate on the smooth marble steps, Erica Biro didn't quite know how to answer. But just below, seated on her left, a smile began to creep across the mouth of the usually reserved Ioana Plesu.

At first it was a chuckle that escaped her lips as she tapped her teammate on the leg and said plainly, "They didn't like you." The chuckle grew into a fuller laugh momentarily and then she explained, "It's not that they didn't like her, she was just on the wrong side of a rivalry because she used to hang out with the Ontario people since she spoke English. It was more of a province rivalry. It wasn't her."

"But I liked you," the still smiling Plesu consoled her teammate. When the two freshman tennis players sat on the steps of the Marketplace, they had 14 months of Duke life, nearly 70 matches and 37 years of memories between them, but it was their first meeting at Canadian Nationals in the summer of 1994 that they both quickly happened upon.

For Biro, the tennis odyssey to that day in the summer of '94 was one a long time in starting. And it ended almost exactly at the beginning.

Biro was born in Montreal in the winter of 1980. Both of her parents had spent most of their lives there and it appeared Erica was going to do the same. Soccer was her thing then; tennis wasn't even an afterthought.

That all changed in 1991 when she was 11 years old; the Biros relocated from the cold Canadian climate to Boca Raton, Fla. Without planning it they had stumbled into the tennis mecca of the United States, the biggest maternity ward for tennis dreams, and also the biggest cemetery.

It would be a year before Biro picked up a racket, but when she did she wouldn't put it down for long. By the time she was 13, she was already playing seriously in Florida, but as she says herself, "I lost to everybody."

But Biro didn't quit. She was driven to get to the top of the tennis heap, even if she got a late start into the race. The workouts got harder and the results got better, but it took summer trips to Montreal to train with the Canadian national team to turn her into a great player.

She started playing seriously at 12, forced indoors during much of the year. Already she was the best in her province and always among the top sixin the nation.

So when the Quebec team was selected, Plesu's was the first name to be called. And when Biro joined the team that same year it would be the first of three summers the pair of future Blue Devils would spend together, playing for Tennis Canada.

But when it comes to Duke's own Odd Couple, three summers together didn't make them anything alike.

The reserved Plesu, a wallflower by her own admission, is sometimes slow to speak but always quick with a smile. She's the kind of person whose more at home fading into the crowd.

"She's the sweetest girl you'll ever meet," Biro said. "She's so good-hearted, so genuine. Her work ethic is unbelievable. She does a lot for the team."

Then there's Biro, who will more than likely be drawing the crowd Plesu is fading into. She's lively and energetic, and leaning her 5-foot-6 frame into the conversation, she can dominate it like a match. She's the prankster of the team, keeping everybody on their toes.

"I'm outgoing," she said in a mockingly defensive pose. "I never shut up. I'm always up for a party. I like to have lots of people around me."

As they both continued to grow up, they both had to move on and after three summers together, the traveling Odd Couple show was temporarily put on hold.

There were other things to be done, tournaments to be played, and international competition to be sought.

For Biro there was the nation's best in Florida. She rifled through the USTA rankings, always claiming a place among the top three.

Then came the ITF world junior tour. Biro, now realizing she wanted to play collegiate tennis more than ever, balanced the hectic travel schedule with a dedicated study routine.

Meanwhile, Plesu was becoming Canada's top player. At 15 she won the under-18 national title. By the time she was 16, she too was competing internationally. And during her final years in high school, she began competing professionally.

As both of their junior careers began to wind down, neither knew it, but they were about to start out in college where they had started five years ago-as teammates.

But it very nearly didn't happen.

As a senior at Spanish River High School, Biro, by then a two-time state player of the year, was among the nation's most heralded recruits. And when she started selecting schools, Duke was not among the list. Stanford and Florida, for so long the be-all and end-all of women's tennis, were her choices.

But neither school felt right. Stanford was too far away and Florida was too much like a boot camp. So one week before the November signing period her coach suggested Duke. She had to pay her own way, and she only stayed a few hours, but her decision was made.

"The minute I got on this campus" she started, and then paused to begin again. "You know that feeling everybody talks about when they get on this campus? I just got that feeling. It was everything I wanted and more."

When Biro commited, the Blue Devils were left with one scholarship, but its intended recipient was not Ioana Plesu. But for the Canadian player of the year, luck struck twice.

A chance meeting with a pair of former Duke players, Karen O'Sullivan and Wendy Fix at a tournament in England sparked Plesu's interest. She knew she wanted to play tennis in the United States, but she had never been exposed to Duke.

For the former Blue Devils it wasn't a hard sell. Plesu applied to the University in the fall, and in the spring after a second stroke of luck left the scholarship unfilled, head coach Jamie Ashworth offered her the team's eighth spot.

"It was the only place I wanted to go," Plesu said. "I applied to other schools, but Duke was the only one I cared about."

Word spread quickly and when Biro heard she had committed to Duke, she immediately called up her newest and oldest teammate.

"I called her up and I was like 'Ioana, I can't believe you're coming here,'" Biro said. "It was nice to know someone I knew would be there."

And now that the two are together again, it gives them four more years to decide about the important issues of friendship, like just who is the better soccer player.

"I'm a really good soccer player still," Biro said. "Ioana knows, she plays with me."

"Yeah," Plesu said, laughing again, "okay, Erica."