Tennis teams falter at NCAAs, fail to reach semis

ALIBU, Calif. - Sometimes a team's reach is simply no match for its aspirations. When Karin Palme's volley slipped past Katie Granson's outstretched racquet and into the open court behind her, Duke's sixth-ranked women's tennis team (23-5) faced the harsh reality that its hopes for a national title were going to wait yet another year. "This is what we play for all season," junior Megan Miller said. "Absolutely everything needs to be in place. We went in to do battle, but the Sun Devils' just came out firing today." Having reached four consecutive Final Fours, Duke's bitter Sweet 16 exit against an insurgent 11th-ranked Arizona State (14-7) team seemed slightly premature. Nevertheless, this year's squad bore little resemblance to the previous four installments. Traveling to ritzy Malibu, Calif., the 2000 women's tennis team, unlike its predecessors, had tasted the sourness of an ACC defeat and the sweetness of emerging from that loss to capture an impressive 13th straight conference title. If nothing else, the Blue Devils knew how to strive in the face of adversity, but ASU-having weathered its own share of misfortune throughout the season after numerous key injuries-withstood the mounting tension with a gracefulness that outshone Duke's. In every tight situation, Duke yielded to the pressure, allowing ASU to reach the quarterfinals. The Blue Devils' inability to win the big points is the primary reason for their early summer vacation. "We were in positions to win sets and games, but in pressure we pretty much folded," coach Jamie Ashworth said. "Whereas Arizona State came up with big shots in tight situations, we tended to sit back on our heels and watch the point unfold. We needed to be much more aggressive to win today." The Sun Devils quickly assumed control of the match after collecting convincing, straight-set victories at Nos. 1, 3 and 5 singles. Seemingly unfazed by their teammates' losses, junior Kathy Sell and sophomore Erica Biro dismantled their opponents, making the overall match score 3-2. The momentum of the overall match thus hinged directly upon the result of the No. 6 singles' contest between two gutsy freshmen, ASU's Mhairi Brown and Duke's Prim Siripipat. Though it was a best-of-three-set match, the first-set tiebreaker proved to be the match's deciding factor. Dismantling Siripipat with a big baseline game, Brown snatched the tiebreaker 7-2. Tired and lacking her previous level of intensity, Siripipat hobbled into the second set. When she dropped the fourth game after two failed break-point opportunities, Siripipat finally folded, eventually losing 7-6 (7-2), 6-2. Her defeat cornered Duke in a 4-2 hole in the overall match heading into doubles play, one point away from defeat. Yet the Blue Devils were simply concentrating on getting all three doubles points. "We had no reason to worry," Ashworth said. "Our doubles' teams were just as good as theirs." Duke's No. 1 doubles team of Biro and Brooke Siebel, the lone senior, played inspired tennis against the 18th-ranked ASU team of Allison Bradshaw and Celena McCoury and had an opportunity to seize their match. But when Palme, paired with senior Kerry Giardino, finessed a backhand volley for a crosscourt winner against Granson and Sell, the fate of the Blue Devils' rollercoaster season was sealed. And all that was left was to get ready for next year. "It's never too early to start thinking about next year's chances," said Sell, the Blue Devils' on-court leader. "We now come into next year's season with that much more experience in NCAA matches."