The women's tennis team showed no sign of hesitation. In its first ACC match this season. The No. 2 Blue Devils (13-1, 1-0 in the ACC) defeated No. 55 Florida State (9-9, 1-3) by a score of 7-0.
At No. 3 singles, Amanda Johnson was the star for Duke yesterday. The sophomore only lost one game while easily and aggressively defeating Jessica Balbuena, 6-1, 6-0.
"Amanda played well," coach Jamie Ashworth said. "But she's been playing well all year. When she's playing aggressive and staying inside the baseline and controlling the points, there's no way you can really beat her. She controls points with her forehand and she did a good job of that. She served better than she's been serving... but it was a good match for everybody."
Duke swept all three doubles matches to gain the doubles point, giving the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead going into singles play. Finishing quickly in doubles were Duke sophomores Katie Granson and Hillary Adams at No. 3, who defeated Marina Raic and Natalie Carratala, 8-3. The No. 2 team of senior Kathy Sell and freshman Ansley Cargill clinched the doubles point by winning over Nanette Duxin and Alida Gallovits, 8-3. The No. 1 team of Johnson and Megan Miller handily defeated Balbuena and Samantha Schoeffel, 8-5.
"We played pretty well, coming off a win against Florida. Obviously, you are worried about a little bit of a letdown," Ashworth said. "I don't think we had that. I think Florida State is a lot better than [its ranking]. They are going to be one of the top-four teams in the conference."
While the doubles point came easily, the Blue Devils had to work harder for their singles victories, as three singles matches went into three sets yesterday. Cargill struggled at No. 1, but still defeated Gallovits 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. At the No. 2 spot, Miller won over Schoeffel, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Sell, at No. 4, defeated Christina Denny easily, 6-4, 6-3. No. 5 Adams took a win over Raic 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 and sophomore Prim Siripipat, playing at No. 6, won over Christy Travis in a fast-paced match, 6-3, 6-3.
"[Florida State] played a lot better than our girls expected them to," Ashworth said. "We hadn't been [indoors] in a little bit. We're playing better, we played well down in Florida and it was good to follow it up with [this win]."
The Blue Devils continue ACC competition as they travel to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina today.
"We have UNC [today], and they beat [Florida State] pretty easily [Saturday], so it should be a good match," Ashworth said. "It was good to get to play because we haven't played in three days and three days is a long time for us. We like to play a lot more matches than practice. It was good to get in match play today, in preparation for UNC."
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