Duke upset top-ranked Northwestern last year in a match that revitalized the Blue Devils’ season and gave them the belief that they could compete with any team in the country. With that newfound confidence, Duke went on to capture not only an ACC Championship, but the national title.
So when the Wildcats (13-3) traveled to Durham for a rematch this year, they also brought the prospect of having a similar impact on Duke’s season.
And luckily for the No. 5 Blue Devils (13-2), history repeated itself.
The Blue Devils defeated No. 2 Northwestern 5-2 Wednesday in Ambler Stadium in an impressive victory against another higher-ranked opponent. Duke also beat then-No. 3 Notre Dame less than two weeks ago. Although the Blue Devils have demonstrated the ability to take down the nation’s best teams, they got a much-needed reminder of that fact against the Wildcats.
“I think that we needed again to prove to ourselves that we can compete with anyone in the country,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “For us to come out to win five singles matches pretty convincingly, all in straight sets, I think that should show our team that we can beat anyone in the country if we are willing to pay the price. They have to be willing to pay the price every single point, run down balls and if it takes a rally of 30 balls to win a point then we do that.”
Duke did not come out strong against Northwestern, dropping two of its three doubles matches against the Wildcats. Although doubles has been one of the Blue Devils’ biggest weaknesses this season, they have compensated with exceptional play in singles.
Yesterday was no exception.
Amanda Granson quickly won the first point for Duke, sweeping her singles match 6-1, 6-0. Monica Gorny and Reka Zsilinska finished soon after in similarly dominant fashion, each winning their singles matches in straight sets to put Duke up 3-1.
The Wildcats fought back as Maria Mosolova beat Ellah Nze in No. 1 singles to pull within one, but senior Liz Plotkin earned the deciding victory for her team in the No. 3 singles match against Northwestern senior Lauren Liu. Plotkin started off poorly and dug herself a 3-0 hole, but after a change in strategy she put together an impressive comeback.
“I definitely changed my mentality,” Plotkin said. “I came out with a particular game plan and kind of readjusted after losing the first few games and really just turned it around. I took it one point at a time and played at my pace rather than her pace.”
Plotkin rallied back and won four straight games to make the score 4-3 before eventually taking the set 7-5. The 56th-ranked player in the country also went on to win the second set 6-4, but her initial surge in the first set not only sparked her own victory, but changed momentum for the whole team. Mary Clayton won the final singles point for Duke.
“When Liz came back to 4-3 was the biggest thing to me,” Ashworth said. “I know she is going to compete and you look at the scores and we are doing well on a bunch of courts, but that match to me was a big one.”
The momentum that this victory could create, though, is what makes the Blue Devils especially excited as they enter conference play.
“Last year we beat them and that was basically what kind of set us on our track to winning ACC and NCAAs,” Plotkin said. “This is definitely a huge win for us and hopefully it can do for us now what it did in the previous year.”
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