ACC Springfest Highlights

It was a busy and triumphant weekend in central Florida for Duke's spring sports, as the Blue Devils participated in eight ACC tournaments and brought back an impressive four titles. Here is a glimpse at some of the weekend's most memorable highlights.

Men's lacrosse celebrates: Men's and women's tennis and women's golf won championships with very little drama, dominating as most everyone expected. But coach Mike Pressler's lacrosse team took down a giant in Maryland at Sunday's finals, a win made even sweeter by the fact that the match was played in front of a huge number of boisterous Terrapin fans. The scene in the final minute was chaotic, as the Blue Devils jumped into one big pile in the center of the field at the Wide World of Sports complex. The emotions of the upset made for arguably the most special moment of the week, as the joyous Blue Devils were juxtaposed next to dejected Maryland players literally hanging their heads and slamming their sticks against their bench in frustration.

Straight shooter: Virada Nirapathpongporn had her gorgeous swing going all week, but she saved her best for the very end. With Duke leading by just a stroke over Wake Forest, the Thai native came to the long, par-4 18th needing par to secure the title. The freshman hit a highlight-reel approach shot and then drained a 25-footer to birdie on one of the toughest holes on the course. The clutch conversion slammed the door on the Demon Deacons' hopes of an upset and also secured the individual crown for Nirapathpongporn.

Sweeping the Tar Heels: In two very even matchups held back-to-back Friday, both Blue Devils lacrosse teams emerged victorious over Duke's biggest rival. The large Carolina contingent gradually became remarkably quiet as it watched Duke get a whole lot closer to winning the Carlyle Cup in the span of just a few hours.

Jumping Jill: It was a rough weekend for track and field, but one bright spot was pole vaulter Jillian Schwartz. Her 12 11/12 jump easily broke her own ACC record, but even that was not enough to satisfy Schwartz, who said she actually planned on doing better.

Freshman toughness: In a battle of two of the nation's best players, No. 2 Ansley Cargill split sets with No. 6 Bea Bielik of Wake Forest before the match was called due to completion of the tournament. Playing what Cargill called "[professional] top-30-level tennis," Bielik wowed spectators with a flurry of powerful groundstrokes down the lines on her way to a 6-1 thrashing in the first set. But Cargill simply never looked frustrated, despite being just two points away from getting routed 6-1, 6-2. The freshman finally broke service at 5-2 and began to pound the ball deep into Bielik's backhand, eventually winning a thrilling second set 7-5 in the tie-break.