With a pair of road victories over top-25 teams this weekend, the women's tennis team (23-2, 8-0 in the ACC) clinched the ACC regular season title and the No. 1 seed for next weekend's ACC tournament. Saturday, the Blue Devils defeated No. 17 Clemson (17-4, 7-1) by a score of 4-3 and followed it up with a Sunday 5-2 win over No. 23 Georgia Tech (13-5, 5-3).
"It says a lot about how good this team is," head coach Jamie Ashworth said. "The ACC was very tough this year and we accomplished our goal of winning out in the ACC."
In Atlanta, Duke came out strong and took the doubles point.
In singles action, national No. 3 Kelly McCain scored an easy victory over Catherine Gunn 6-0, 6-2.
After grinding out a tough first set against Kelly Anderson, Amanda Johnson did not drop a game in the second and won 7-5, 6-0. At the No. 5 flight, Hillary Adams, not a regular singles player for the Blue Devils, was dominant in her 6-0, 6-0 smashing of Lindsay Shosho.
So before Georgia Tech could even score a point, Duke had clinched its perfect ACC season.
Katie Blaszak dropped the first set to Sekita Grant but came back to win a close match 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Both Saras Arasu and Julie DeRoo were defeated in straight sets.
Saturday, the Blue Devils took on a menacing Clemson team. The Tigers have a number of foreign players who the Blue Devils have had less experience playing against.
"We didn't know what to expect from Clemson players," Ashworth said. "Everybody was feeling them out a little bit."
Duke got off to a slow start and dropped only its second doubles point of the season. The Blue Devils found themselves down early in all three matches and only Julia Smith and Katie Granson were able to recover and turn in a victory.
"It was the first time that we just got beat," Ashworth said. "We just got beat in our doubles matches. Clemson played more aggressive than we did. They had more energy than we did. They were on top of us so quick and had more intensity than we did at the beginning of the match."
Duke quickly regained the momentum in the match when Katie Granson dominated Anna Dolinska 6-0, 6-0 and leveled the score.
"[Granson] is playing really well," Ashworth said. "She has been hitting the ball well in practice and every match she plays she has been better and better."
Then, Kelly McCain defeated Clemson's hottest player Julie Coin. Coin had won 11 consecutive matches before falling Saturday. McCain, who was in control throughout, won by a score of 6-4, 6-4.
Julia DeRoo and Katie Blaszak both had easy times with their Tiger opponents cruising to 6-2, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-4 win respectively.
The Blue Devils lost both the No. 2 and No. 3 flights as Johnson and Arasu both fell in straight sets.
"The middle of our lineup has been a concern for us all year," Ashworth said. "[Arasu] just needs to be more aggressive. That high you just can't keep the ball in play."
Clemson went on to beat North Carolina 4-3 Sunday to clinch the second seed for the ACC tournament.
Duke was excited to have clinched the No. 1 seed which gives the Blue Devils a critical off day in the middle of the competition.
"Being the No. 1 seed is a big advantage in the tournament," Ashworth said.
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