Since rain forced the Blue Devils off the courts against William and Mary in Puerto Rico last Thursday, Duke has beaten its highest-ranked opponent of the season, defeating then-No.3 Notre Dame 5-2, junior Ellah Nze has been named the ACC Player of Week and the Blue Devils have climbed up to No. 5 in the latest rankings.
These achievements, however, will not result in a guaranteed win in the rescheduled match against the Tribe at the Courts in Williamsburg, Va. at 7 p.m. Sunday.
This rescheduling not only means Duke (11-2) now plays at William and Mary (6-8) instead of at a neutral site, but also means the Blue Devils now have to compete on a weekend that initially did not have a match scheduled.
Before the match was canceled, Duke had scraped through to win the doubles point. Since it has been over 48 hours since the match started, the Blue Devils will have to start back at square one and attempt to win that point all over again.
The match will be Duke’s first since its win against the Fighting Irish, a break of eight days. On the other hand, William and Mary will be playing a match for the second day in a row and its third in five days. Blue Devils’ assistant coach Marc Spicijaric, however, does not believe this will make a difference in Duke’s level of play.
“I think we’re at that stage in the season now where the break is actually good for our girls,” Spicijaric said. “They’ve worked hard all year, and all week, and they will be ready to go out and compete.”
Duke will hope for strong play from Nze, who is 10-2 for the season and hitting her best form. She has quickly climbed up the singles rankings to 36th from 69th two weeks ago.
“She has worked hard all season,” Spicijaric said. “If she keeps working hard, maybe she’ll win another player of the week, and maybe even make a good run in the NCAAs.”
The Tribe will counter with senior Carmen Pop, who is also reaching her top form. Pop has won 11 consecutive singles matches at the third singles position.
Duke’s confidence will be high after defeating Notre Dame, and the team is eager to go out and get the victory.
“Notre Dame was one of the games you mark in your calendar,” Spicijaric said. “Winning that should make the girls even more confident that, on their day, they can beat anyone.”
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