Women wipe out hapless Illini squad

The in-laws would have made better guests.

When the Blue Devils strolled into Champaign, Ill. yesterday afternoon, they showed no mercy to their shell-shocked hosts.

"It is good to have respect," Illinois coach Sujay Lama said, "but we showed too much respect today. It is time to start believing that we belong with the best. I scheduled Duke at home to show that we are not that far away."

Looking at the final tally, however, the 25th-ranked Illini (7-3) are not even close. Duke (7-1), with three nationally ranked singles players and two ranked doubles squads, demolished Illinois 7-0. The Blue Devils dominated to the point that only one match, Prim Siripipat's 5-7, 6-4, (13-11) victory over Eva Choe, saw a Duke player drop a set.

"We played a lot better today than we did this weekend," Duke coach Jamie Ashworth said. "We have really been trying to play with more emotion, and we did that today. No matter if we win or lose the point, I wanted them to show some emotion. When we do that, positive energy is created and good things happen."

Senior Megan Miller, playing in the No. 2 singles spot, especially transferred Ashworth's advice onto the court. In her 6-1, 6-1 dismantling of a hapless Tiffany Ekloy, Miller employed a more assertive style of play. The maneuver paid huge dividends.

"Megan is playing really well," Ashworth said. "She knows that she has to step inside the line to be really effective, and she did that today. Her opponent was a big hitter, so Megan really had to step up. She played a strong net game and took a lot of balls out of the air."

In addition to Miller's fine performance, freshman star Ansley Cargill, currently ranked 2nd in the nation, dialed home another ho-hum 6-3, 6-1 victory against 80th-ranked Jennifer McGaffigan. Her combination of power and placement continues to send her opposition into fits because she keeps them in a perpetual guessing game as to what she will do next.

"Against a team like the Illini, you have to come out of the gates hard," Ashworth said. "If they have some early success, they will continue to gain momentum until they are tough to beat. Fortunately, we started very well today with some really solid doubles matches."

Duke's supremacy in doubles-not one of the three teams even sniffed the potential for a loss-proved to Ashworth that he did not need to start 14th-ranked freshman Amanda Johnson in singles. Instead, he was able to give her a muchneeded respite, so as to ensure that the first-year star does not burn out too quickly.

Whereas Illinois rolled over when the Blue Devils stormed onto the courts, fifth-ranked Texas is eagerly anticipating taking its licks at Cargill, Miller and company Sunday. If the same Duke squad that showed up today rides into Longhorn country, then the only thing Texas will be licking is its wounds.