On a breezy afternoon at the Duke Tennis Stadium, the second-ranked Blue Devils blew away visiting William & Mary.
Women's tennis coach Jamie Ashworth hit the century mark for wins in only his fifth season at Duke, as his Blue Devils (11-1) stomped the 18th-ranked Tribe 7-0 by dominating almost every singles match yesterday.
In addition, the victory avenged a 6-3 loss to William & Mary (5-7) last season.
"That was a good match to [get win No. 100], especially because that was a team we have struggled with," Ashworth said. "The 100 wins are a tribute to the type of girls that we have had here over the years. To do it in 116 matches says a lot about the players."
After winning two out of three doubles matches to claim the doubles point, the Blue Devils wasted no time in securing their coach's milestone victory. Duke's top three singles players-freshmen Ansley Cargill and Amanda Johnson and senior Megan Miller-relinquished only 12 games between them in six overpowering sets of tennis. Prim Siripipat had an equally easy time dispatching the Tribe's Kelli Partlow at No. 6 singles, enabling the Blue Devils to lock up the win while senior Kathy Sell and sophomore Hilary Adams battled through close matches.
Sell dropped the second set of her match-the only one yielded by Duke on the day-and then triumphed in a tiebreaker as both coaches agreed to forego the third set with the match's outcome no longer in question. Adams, meanwhile, used the powerful groundstrokes generated by her 5-foot-11 frame to blast by William & Mary's Kari Olsen in the longest match of the day.
While the Tribe posed no problems for the Blue Devils, Ashworth feared his team might struggle with the gusts of wind that occasionally swept through the stadium. Ashworth said he knew his team held an advantage throughout its lineup but that highly windy conditions can serve as a neutralizing factor in matches between unevenly paired teams.
Duke's only difficulties, however, came early in the match, when the Tribe nearly took a 1-0 lead after doubles. At No. 1 doubles, Adams and Johnson were defeated soundly, while Sell and Granson struggled before finally fending off two sophomores at No. 3 doubles. Miller, Duke's typical mainstay on the top doubles team, dropped down with Cargill to No. 2, where Duke received its best doubles performance in the form of an 8-2 dismantling. Each of the Blue Devils' doubles combinations had only been utilized twice in their previous 10 matches.
"If you keep playing the same combinations over and over, people tend to get stale playing with each other," said Ashworth, who wanted to ensure his team did not hit a lull right before its match next week against the Florida Gators. "You need to do something to put life in your doubles and freshen things up."
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