The Ivy League is usually pretty daunting, but for the No. 5 women's tennis team, it's just a stop-over between a week in Hawaii during Spring Break and a rivalry match against No. 7 North Carolina Sunday. But coming off a beach week that brought them convincing wins over Notre Dame and Tennessee, Duke (8-1) might as well ease into a three-match homestand at 4 p.m. today against No. 75 Yale (5-5).
"Of course we look forward to the game on Sunday, but first we have to look to the game [against Yale]," said freshman Jennifer Zika, who was 2-0 in singles at the No. 2 spot in Hawaii. "It shouldn't be too much of a problem, but it's a good practice for Sunday."
Zika added that the team missed the sun but that jet-lag and travel problems were well behind the Blue Devils, who only lost one point in Hawaii., though it was a surprising one. Ace Amanda Johnson fell to Notre Dame's Alicia Salas after taking the first set Mar. 10, but the nation's fifth-ranked player came back strong with a straight-set victory two days later.
Yale, meanwhile, swept UNC-Greensboro, 7-0, yesterday afternoon on its way down to Durham, but even the luck of the Irish may not suffice for the Bulldogs, who have not placed anyone in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings. And though Duke relies solely on Johnson to carry the load of individual recognition, the Blue Devils have one of their deepest teams in years, and fellow freshmen Tory Zawacki and Kristin Cargill are beginning to dominate.
Even if Duke misses the Aloha State, then, it can at least thank Hawaii for bringing the Blue Devils home geared up for UNC, followed by a tough ACC schedule and then a brutal back-to-back combination of No. 11 Texas and No. 3 Florida looming just three weeks away.
"We practiced every morning in the sun and then played a lot too, so our fitness is really good," Zika said. "We have a lot of good matches coming up against a few top-10 teams, and I think we're prepared really well."
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