Just three days after squeaking past Maryland, 4-3, Duke fought for yet another dramatic victory Wednesday, coming from behind to upset No. 5 North Carolina, 4-3, in Ambler Tennis Stadium.
"We fought-that was the biggest thing," Ashworth said. "As long as we kept fighting to the end, that's what we wanted."
Duke (13-5, 6-1 in the ACC) lost the doubles point and Jennifer Zika, competing at the sixth singles spot, fell in straight sets, giving the Tar Heels (22-4, 7-2) a quick 2-0 lead.
That's when things started to turn, as sixth-ranked Daniela Bercek dismantled her opponent, 6-0, 6-1, in the No. 1 singles match and Jackie Carleton won convincingly in straight sets at the No. 2 spot.
The Blue Devil's lost one more match at No. 5 singles to go down, 3-2, with their only two remaining players, Tara Iyer and Melissa Mang, both down a set in their matches.
The two freshmen, however, battled back to force third sets that gave Duke a chance at the upset victory over rival UNC.
While Iyer was up, 4-1, and playing confidently, Wang found herself losing, 4-3. But she broke serve and won three straight games to close out the match with a 6-4 win in the decisive third set.
"That was huge," head coach Jamie Ashworth said. "Melissa's been just a rock for us all year."
Moments later Iyer won her match with a 6-2 final set to seal the team victory. With the win, the Blue Devils closed the gap in the Carlyle Cup competition to one-point at 10-9.
"It's always a huge rival, but it was especially big for us this year because we dropped a little bit in the rankings," Wang said. "It made it that much sweeter."
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