The women’s tennis team concluded a disappointing fall on a positive note. This weekend at the Kitty Harrison Invitational at North Carolina, Duke emerged victorious against all its opponents except UNC, which it tied 3-3 Saturday.
“We won by far the most matches of anybody,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “We played as a team and learned that our depth in the 4-5-6 spots will be key in winning big matches all season.”
At previous tournaments, Blue Devils players competed as individuals, but this weekend was the first chance for Duke to compete as a team. Responding to different type of competition, the team turned in its best performance of the season, winning 29-of-34 matches.
In the feature matchup of the weekend, Duke and UNC faced off in six singles matches. Freshman standout Clelia Deltour continued her hot play, defeating the Tar Heels’ Charlotte Tansill in two convincing sets, 6-2, 6-2. Tory Zawacki shut out her opponent and Parker Goyer also notched a victory for the Blue Devils. The other three Duke players fell to UNC and the match ended in a tie. Sophomore Jennifer Zika competed in two hard-fought sets, losing in a second-set tiebreaker 10-8.
No. 19 Jackie Carleton, who could have tipped the match in the Blue Devils’ favor, sat out.
“With the matches technically not counting yet, we wanted to try people in different spots and with different matchups,” Ashworth said.
The UNC matches were the most closely contested of the weekend. The Blue Devils earned singles sweeps against Minnesota and Wake Forest and also defeated Washington State.
In doubles play, Duke once again saw a great deal of success. Against ACC newcomer Miami, two Blue Devil tandems picked up victories, but the duo of Carleton and Zawacki was upset by the Hurricanes’ Melissa Applebaum and Caren Seenauth, 8-3.
“We’d been working on reflexes and having the best hands in the country, and unfortunately the match went a different direction,” Ashworth said. “This is not one of those devastating losses, especially since the two rebounded to crush a solid Winthrop team later in the day.”
With sweeps of Winthrop, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech, Duke pairs posted an impressive 12-1 record on the weekend.
The Blue Devils will have to keep their momentum all the way until late January, when the season resumes.
“I feel really good going into January,” Ashworth said. “Unfortunately we’re only allowed two hours of practice per week during the winter, but it’s very reassuring to go out on such a positive note and be able to build on this performance during actual team play.”
Ashworth was thrilled with his team’s performance and said the positive results bode well for the second half of the season, when the Blue Devils will compete almost exclusively as a unit.
“This was the first time we played in a team atmosphere,” Ashworth said. “It gives our younger players a feel for what we’ll experience next year and proved to us that we can beat some very solid opponents on the team level, while not necessarily winning every individual match.”
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