After coming up with a definitive 7-0 win against Virginia Tech Saturday, No. 4 Duke pulled away with a 5-2 win against No. 17 Virginia Sunday at Ambler Stadium thanks to two late singles victories.
The Blue Devils (17-2, 6-0 in the ACC) started off behind the Cavaliers (14-5, 3-4) after winning only one of three doubles matches, the first time after eight matches that Duke failed to win the doubles point.
“We didn’t play the doubles with a lot of passion at the beginning,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “I would’ve liked to play better in doubles because that kind of came out of nowhere, but we did a good job rebounding from that.”
Despite the team’s less-than-stellar performance in the first part of the match, the players made up for it with five first-set wins in singles play.
All but Nadine Fahoum—who played at the No. 1 spot—ended up winning their matches.
Senior Elizabeth Plotkin was off the court first at the No. 4 spot, and senior Reka Zsilinszka evened the overall score at 2-2 after Fahoum lost in straight sets. Zsilinska was coming off a record-setting performance Saturday: Her win in the Virginia Tech (9-10, 1-5) match gave her 34 career ACC singles victories, the most in Duke history.
Senior Ellah Nze’s 7-5, 6-4 victory over Virginia’s Emily Fraser ensured Duke would top the Cavaliers, when the contest seemed very likely to go either way.
“I got down because she was just playing really well, but I quickly refocused and took it on one point at a time and stayed patient, and things went my way,” Nze said. “I remember going in, taking my time and not rushing because she likes playing fast. I just wanted to pull it out then.”
Ashworth echoed Nze’s feelings, adding that he felt very comfortable with the two players who were left on the court—Nze and Rachel Kahan—since both typically perform well for the Blue Devils.
“Ellah had a huge win, and when you go up 3-2 and have a senior with over 100 career wins and a freshman who hasn’t lost a match, we knew we were in pretty good shape,” he said. “If I had to pick people, they would definitely have been people I would have picked. They were great for us this year.”
Kahan’s 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 win Sunday extends her winning streak to 17 on the season, and she is undefeated in singles this year. Her match was the longest, lasting just over four hours.
“It wasn’t my best tennis, but it was really good to pull through with a win,” she said. “The team’s great, the crowd was awesome, and it was really nice to have them to support me because otherwise I don’t think I could’ve pulled through, especially because today was a close one.”
Sunday was the second time Duke faced Virginia this season. The first meeting came during the ITA Indoor Nationals in February, in which the Blue Devils closed off the Cavaliers 4-2. They expect to face each other again.
“Each time we play them, we know they’re going to be tough,” Nze said.
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