Saturday night, the second-ranked women's tennis team extended its winning streak to three matches by narrowly defeating its hosts, 39th-ranked Harvard, 4-3.
The Blue Devils dropped down early in the contest 1-0 by losing the doubles series. Duke's top team of Kelly McCain and Amanda Johnson was defeated by Harvard's Sanja Bajin and Alexis Martire, 8-6.
"We did a good job of setting up the points, but then we missed easy shots," Johnson said. "We need to get back to the basics."
Playing in the No. 2 spot, Harvard's Courtney Bergman and Susanna Lingman beat Duke's Hillary Adams and Julie DeRoo, also by a score of 8-6. The lone doubles victory for Duke came to the duo of Katie Granson and Ioana Plesu, who beat Fleur Broughton and Andrea Magyera 8-3.
"We didn't play well at all in the doubles," coach Jamie Ashworth said. "We seemed scared for some reason, and instead of playing aggressive, we expected Harvard to miss."
Duke quickly rebounded in its singles competition, with third-ranked McCain's defeat of Courtney Bergman 6-1, 6-2. The Blue Devils then jumped to a 3-1 lead, through victories by Julie DeRoo over Sanja Bajin 6-2, 6-2 and Katie Granson over Susanna Lingman 6-4, 6-1.
"Harvard's coach commented that we didn't give them much breathing room in singles," Ashworth said. "We came out to good starts and knew we could win in certain positions."
Although putting up a good second-set fight, junior Hillary Adams was defeated by Harvard's Fleur Broughton 6-2, 7-5, to put the match at 3-2 in Duke's favor.
The competition was closed, though, when Susie Abromeit conquered Lara Naqushbandi 6-4, 6-2. Stepping in the singles lineup at the last minute, Abromeit replaced Johnson, who needed to rest her shin and foot injuries, along with having a virus. It was the freshman Abromeit's first match of the season.
"Susie did a great job," Johnson said. "She only had 10 minutes to get ready, but she showed a lot of energy and enthusiasm. I'm proud of her."
Ashworth noted the players' confidence in one another in singles as a key to their chemistry, which they hope to carry over into doubles. Talent-wise, they are set, Ashworth said, but they need to bring more emotion into the matches.
The team has only one day of practice before they head to the National Team Indoors in Wisconsin Thursday.
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