The women's tennis team, which lost five players from last year's third-ranked squad, took an important step this week in rebuilding its perennially talented roster, when it announced the signing of Tory Zawacki for the fall of 2003.
Zawacki joins Kristin Cargill - the younger sister of former Blue Devil star and current top-100 professional Ansley - as the second member of Duke's class of 2007.
"I'm really excited to be coming to Duke," Zawacki said. "It's great that Kristen committed too because we get along really well."
The Union, N.J. native was a two-time state player of the year before moving to Hilton Head, S.C. to train at the world-renowned Van der Meer Tennis Academy.
Zawacki brings significant experience to a Blue Devil team that returns only four players from the 2002-2003 season. She has competed in both the junior singles and junior doubles events at the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
"Anytime we can add someone to our program with the experience Tory has on the national and international level is a great addition," Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth said. "The biggest thing she adds to our program is she is a very good doubles player. We haven't had anyone come [to Duke] with the doubles success she has had."
Zawacki, who began playing at age 5, is the fourth in a long line of female tennis stars in her family. Older sisters Tracy and Terry Ann - a two-time All-American - both played at Wake Forest, while the third sister Tammy played for Seton Hall.
The Demon Deacons did not have any scholarships available to offer Zawacki, and the only other schools that she seriously considered were Florida and Georgia.
"In the end I liked Duke the best because it focuses on academics and athletics," she said. "Florida and Georgia weren't quite as strong academically."
The five-foot-ten all-court player has been consistently ranked near the top of her age group in the juniors, finishing 2002 at No. 5 in the United States and No. 41 in the world.
In addition to junior events, Zawacki has played in 10 professional tournaments and has been ranked as high as No. 490 on the WTA Tour. Although she has maintained her amateur status and therefore cannot accept prize money, Zawacki did defeat several seeds to win the $10K Holabird Sports Satellite Tournament in 2002.
Despite these impressive results, Ashworth is confident that Zawacki can improve her game significantly at Duke.
"A lot of junior players play their best tennis at the age of 12, 14 and 16, but I think Tory is the opposite," he said. "I think she has her best tennis in front of her and that is very noticeable with her results over the past two years."
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