Duke received a little extra help from Virginia Commonwealth yesterday afternoon at the Sheffield Center.
With a match comprised of three doubles and six singles contests, it is not absurd to field six healthy players. Nevertheless, VCU (3-2) did not possess that small luxury in its 6-1 defeat at the hands of the third-ranked Blue Devils (6-1).
With senior Andrea Ondrisova injured, the Rams were forced to forfeit two of their matches-one doubles and one singles. These two concessions placed Virginia Commonwealth into a ditch that it had little possibility of climbing out of considering Duke's All-America talent.
Despite their immediate disadvantage, the 38th-ranked Rams refused to surrender to their stronger counterparts. They could only hold on so long though.
"They are a really tough team and I did not know exactly what to expect from them," Duke freshman Amanda Johnson said. "Nevertheless, I think everyone did a really good job putting the tough matches away."
Thinking beyond the Virginia Commonwealth match, Duke attempted to play a much more cutthroat brand of tennis yesterday. The Blue Devils felt the tactic would behoove them as the national championship picture comes more into focus.
"The last couple days of practice, we have been working on our aggressiveness," coach Jamie Ashworth said. "However, in doing that, you are going to make more mistakes, and we have to realize that mistakes are fine as long as you make them the right way."
New strategy and all, the story remained the same in dismantling the Rams. Freshman superwoman Ansley Cargill cranked out yet another fantastic performance, seizing victory in both of her matches. Her singles match against Martina Nedlekova, the fifth-ranked player in the nation, particularly displayed the southpaw's fantastic array of skills. Cargill kept Nedlekova in a perpetual state of discomfort by constantly switching the speed and placement of her shots and finding a nice balance between her net and baseline games.
"I was pretty happy with my play today," Cargill said. "I hit my forehand really well and served nicely. Those two aspects of my game seem to be my greatest strengths right now."
While Cargill did not leave room for criticism in her play yesterday, Ashworth said he noticed several areas that his star needs to improve upon.
"She is playing very well," Ashworth said. "When she is inside the baseline though, she can control every point. When she is two feet behind the baseline, she is on the defensive a lot more."
The other first-year phenom, 15th-ranked Amanda Johnson, continued her undefeated singles season in a three-set thriller against Anca Dumitrescu. After having lost the first set 6-3 and having seen all of her shots either just miss the line or smack the tape of the net, Johnson looked razzled, frustrated and, most of all, broken.
However, her ensuing play proved how steep her maturation curve has been. While Dumitrescu grew a bit complacent at the baseline, Johnson turned up the heat, simply overpowering her opponent with shotgun-blast forehands and devastatingly accurate volleys. Two sets later, the first set's woes seemed a distant memory as Johnson left Dumitrescu in her wake.
"I think I really fought hard out there and that is what really helped out in singles," Johnson said. "I showed really good patience in winning that one."
Also crucial in Duke's victory march were senior Megan Miller and sophomore Katie Granson, who demolished their competitors. Miller made short work of Raluca Ciulei in a 6-0, 6-4 victory, and Granson simply bombed Jana Carollo from the baseline in a punishing 6-0, 7-5 win.
Despite his team's success against the Rams, Ashworth still left the Sheffield Center giving the impression that his players will not have an easy week of practice.
"We did not play great, however, it was definitely better today," he said. "We have to keep getting better from here."
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