Upon dropping the second set tiebreaker to Maryland’s Marianne Baker, Duke junior Jackie Carleton tossed her racquet down the width of two courts. She realized that Duke would fall to Maryland for the first time since 1985.
Carleton, having been up at least a break in both sets, lost focus and the match, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4).
Duke, dropping lost the doubles point to open the match, was up in the first set in five of the six singles matches. It looked as though the Blue Devils would roll to win their 25th-straight against head coach Jamie Ashworth’s alma mater.
But Duke (13-7, 4-3 in the ACC) could not put away the Terrapins (8-10, 2-5), losing the match 4-3 Sunday. The weekend was not all bad as the Blue Devils romped Virginia (5-11, 1-5) 7-0 at home Saturday.
On Senior Day, seniors Katie Blaszak and Saras Arasu played side by side, but with vastly different results. Blaszak struggled, playing with multiple injuries, while Arasu cruised to win her second-straight singles match, 6-0, 6-4. Arasu and her opponent Jennifer Dent had long baseline rallies, with Arasu cleverly waiting for her opportunities, making winners when she needed to.
Blaszak, playing in the top singles spot had her opponent Ramona But on the ropes on several occasions but lost key points on unforced errors. But chased down ball after ball, letting Blaszak beat herself with uncontrolled shots that were well wide and long in several instances.
“It is doable if you get out there and get on top,” Blaszak said about winning with injuries. “But if you can’t capitalize when you’re up 40-15 or 40-0, you don’t have a prayer of winning the match.”
On the opposite side of Blaszak, playing in the No. 2 spot, Jackie Carleton lost a two-set nailbiter that had the attention of everyone at the stadium by the last few games. Carleton, who looked frustrated and unhappy with line calls throughout the match, lost the first set after going up a break early.
“Jackie lost the first but did a really good job coming back in the second set,” Ashworth said.
In the second set, she climbed to an early 3-0 lead, but Baker battled back to 5-5 in the second, and it seemed as though Carleton was losing steam. In the second set tiebreaker, both players executed deft passing shots, but Baker took the early 4-1 lead. She then double-faulted, opening the door again for Carleton. The Blue Devil won the next point with an authoritative and emphatic overhead, but on the ensuing serve, Carleton double-faulted.
Baker was now in control and took the final points to win the tiebreaker 7-4 on an impressive crosscourt winner, giving her team the victory.
“Jackie has to put people away when she has opportunities,” said Ashworth. “It’s frustrating to you when you’re on top and you can’t put people away.”
The fourth singles match was a European matchup with Frenchwoman Clelia Deltour standing strong against the Bulgarian Neda Mihneva in an up-and-down battle. Deltour took the first 6-2, but Mihneva struck back winning the second easily, 6-1. With the overall match already decided, Deltour took the final set 6-3.
Cargil handily took the first set 6-3, but then lost the second one 1-6. In the third, her opponent Veronika Subertova, an underhand server, opened up an early lead to go up 4-1. Cargill fought back to 4-3 where she was broken again. She then broke back to bring it to 5-4. But this was all she had as she went down 4-6 in the final set for the first time in her two-year ACC career.
At the 6 spot, Tory Zawacki simply overpowered her opponent to an easy 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Even though Duke beat Virginia 7-0 Saturday, the loss was disappointing as the Blue Devils will have three ACC losses for the first time since 1985.
“We talked about being better than someone and showing it, but today we came out completely flat,” said Ashworth. “Our preparation wasn’t good before the match. We got out to a good start but we just couldn’t play. I don’t know what happened. We did a really poor job of getting ready.”
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