For the past two seasons, the Duke women's tennis team had a legitimate chance to capture both the team and individual NCAA Championships for the first time in school history, but fell short on each occasion.
In 2001 and 2002, the Blue Devils were led by stellar freshmen Ansley Cargill and Kelly McCain, who helped their teams to the quarterfinals and sweet 16, respectively.
Although Cargill left Duke after only one year to play on the professional tour, McCain chose to stay for her sophomore campaign and is once again poised to lead perhaps the most talented team in Blue Devil history.
"We have a lot of depth this year," McCain said. "Last year we had a few weak spots, but I think this year we're solid at every position."
Duke returns five of its six starters from its sixth-ranked 2002 squad, losing only senior Ioana Plesu to graduation.
McCain, ranked second nationally, is followed in the singles lineup by No. 15 Amanda Johnson, who has been Duke's most successful player in dual match competition during her freshman and sophomore seasons.
In addition to her on-the-court attributes, Johnson has also become one of the team leaders off the court.
"Amanda and Katie [Granson] have kind of emerged as leaders early in the season," head coach Jamie Ashworth said. "I've put a lot more on them in terms of leadership off the court than anyone else, and they've responded well."
The ability of Johnson and the seniors to hold the team together could prove to be a key to the Blue Devils' success this season. With 10 players on the squad and only six singles slots in each competition, some deserving players will undoubtedly be left sitting on the sidelines.
"This is the deepest team we've had since I've been here as far as the quality of players at the bottom of our lineup who aren't even playing," Ashworth said. "That's good and bad. It's good because we can sit out players who might have nagging injuries without losing a lot of quality. It's bad because there are going to be people who aren't always going to play. If people become selfish and put themselves first and the team second, then we're going to have problems down the road, but so far, things have been good."
Duke's singles lineup will be bolstered this year by the addition of sophomore transfer Katie Blaszack, who joins seniors Julie DeRoo and Hillary Adams as the third transfer on the current Blue Devil squad.
Blaszack, ranked No. 81 nationally, has already proven her worth, winning a three-set battle against her former teammates to help No. 4 Duke (4-0) defeat No. 8 Vanderbilt 4-3 in an early season showdown.
"Katie brings a lot of fight to the court," Ashworth said. "She's a hard worker, and I think the other girls feed off that. The biggest thing with her is letting her know that the coaches believe in her and the nine other girls on the team do, too."
Another early sign of promise comes from Duke's doubles play, which has been its Achilles Heel at times in the past.
The Blue Devils currently boast four teams ranked in the top 50 nationally, led by No. 11 DeRoo and Johnson and No. 13 Adams and McCain.
"Last year it took a while to find teams that fit together," Adams said. "Now we've had the same doubles teams all through the fall and I think it's working out pretty well."
Duke will have a better understanding of how it compares to other top programs in the country after the National Indoor Championships this weekend in Madison, Wisc.
"I don't think we're close to playing our best tennis right now," Ashworth said. "National Indoors is a great early season tournament that will show us what we need to work on as we head into outdoor play."
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