Frustrated screams spewed from the mouths of Old Dominion players most of the afternoon.
The only Blue Devil who had similar frustrations was Katie Blaszak, who midway through the first set yelled to herself, “You have the attention of a two-year-old.”
But as the first set wrapped up in most of the matches, the chatter quieted as ODU players glared down the row of courts at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center, only to see Duke with a commanding lead.
Blaszak, who was playing at the No. 1 singles spot because No. 56 Jackie Carleton is battling tendonitis in her ankle, continued to shout even after getting out to an early lead in the second. But most of the Blue Devils simply shrugged their shoulders on errant forehands, seeing that it would not be much of a match.
No. 6 Duke (5-1) beat Old Dominion 7-0 in its first match since losing in the semifinals of the national indoor championship 11 days ago.
“We are more talented than Old Dominion, so I talked with them about not giving Old Dominion any kind of confidence,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “The longer they hang around, you start to get close matches.
“If we could get up on them and put them away, right away, then we wouldn’t be in that situation, and we did a good job of that.”
Ashworth has said Duke’s strength lies in its depth, but even with players shifting positions due to Carleton’s absence, the Blue Devils’ strength came from the top. Jennifer Zika and Clelia Deltour easily won their matches in the second and third positions, respectively, as neither dropped a single game.
“Clelia has been playing really well,” Ashworth said. “She has been all over our lineup a little bit, but wherever we have put her she has played really well.”
Blaszak then finished her match, which, along with the doubles point, clinched the win over the Monarchs (6-5). On match point, Blaszak moved Kerstin Endlich from side to side and hit a clean winner from just inside the baseline to complete a 6-2, 6-0 win, improving her dual-match record to 6-0 this season.
“She had a pretty hard, flat ball,” Blaszak said. “I started hitting into the body a little more. I started moving a little bit better, and I started getting a little bit more patient.”
Tory Zawacki won her fifth-flight match, 6-2, 6-0, with serves that overpowered her opponent. The sophomore frequently made it to net, putting away her overheads.
Kristin Cargill and Parker Goyer took a little longer to win their matches, but the results were the same. Goyer won 6-2, 6-0, while Cargill took a 5-2 lead in the second but needed a tiebreaker to complete a 6-3, 7-6 victory in the closest match of the afternoon.
At the No. 1 doubles spot, Old Dominion won its only match of the night, but Duke took the second and third slots and the opening point. Like the singles lineup, the doubles parings were shaken up because of Carleton’s absence.
Blaszak and Zawacki only let their opponents reach 40 once in an 8-0 win that took just 26 minutes.
“We just put it together,” Blaszak said. “We didn’t make a whole lot of errors, we hit our returns well, we hit our serves well and didn’t miss a lot of easy volleys.”
Parker Goyer and Clelia Deltour won their match 8-4 while Zika and Cargill lost in the top slot. Ashworth said he will continue to mix up his doubles lineup, as he does not know when Carleton will be able to return.
Carleton’s absence may hurt the Blue Devils more this weekend when they play No. 20 Notre Dame and No. 4 Northwestern on the road.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.