As rising sophomores playing on the ITA summer circuit, Kathy Sell and Megan Miller once rallied from a 6-0, 5-0 deficit to win a doubles event late in the circuit calendar.
They probably should've saved a little of that magic.
Both Miller and Sell were unable to escape early round deficits as neither of Duke's two entrants made it out of the second round of a bizarre Rolex Indoor Championships in Dallas this weekend.
"It definitely had its ups and downs for both of us," Sell said of the 32-player tournament, the most coveted ITA title outside of NCAAs. "We worked on things to carry into matches this week and into the semester. Because this was no pressure, we were out there to get better more than just to win."
The tournament itself was an anomaly in the usually static world of women's tennis, as every seed but one was eliminate before the semifinals. Even Zuzana Lesenarova, the reigning NCAA champion who has held on to the nation's top ranking for a full year, was ousted in the second round by little-heralded Kristina Krazewski of Washington.
And as the seeds fell, Sell was there to capitalize.
The Moorestown, N.J., junior blitzed Celeste Frey, Mississippi's top seed and the nation's No. 7 ranked player, in the opening round, turning a tight first set into a 6-3, 6-1 victory.
"I was psyched to beat a top-10 player," Sell said. "In the second set, I started out strong.... She got frustrated and I just kept playing better."
Sell had no problem in her opening set with LSU's Berno Colusio, but after dropping the next set and falling behind in the third, Sell couldn't work her way out.
"I stopped being aggressive," Sell said. "When I tried to change, she just stepped it up."
Miller, meanwhile, found herself staring down a familiar deficit-to Esther Knox.
The No. 8 ranked Georgia Bulldog racked up her third victory over Miller, who had faced her earlier in a collegiate grand slam and at the Clay Court Championships.
Miller and Sell also teamed up on the doubles side of the draw, winning their opening match before falling to eventual finalists Lindsay Blau and Michelle Gough.
But with a team no one expects to bowl teams over, winning, just for once, wasn't what the tournament was all about.
"When in match, it's a pressure situation and you can't experiment," Sell said. "And we got to do that."
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