With head coach Jamie Ashworth becoming the ACC all-time wins leader last week and a move up to No. 3 in the ITA rankings this week, the Blue Devils are on fire.
Duke will look to build on the momentum of its four-game win streak—including 7-0 blowouts of N.C. State, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech—and extend it to six in matchups with nationally-ranked conference opponents Clemson and Georgia Tech.
“When we started ACC play against N.C. State, our goal was to be 11-0 in ACC matches,” Ashworth said. “We’ve put ourselves in a good position. We’re 4-0 right now, and we just have to use that momentum and put the confidence that we’ve gotten in the first four matches to good use.”
The Blue Devils (15-2, 4-0 in the ACC) will travel to face the No. 23 Tigers (11-6, 4-1) Friday and then the No. 24 Yellow Jackets (9-7, 3-2) Sunday. In the last 10 years, Duke is 5-7 against Clemson and 10-3 against Georgia Tech.
“Both teams are really good and have a lot of depth,” Ashworth said. “[Georgia Tech head coach] Bryan Shelton is one of the best coaches in the league and in the country. Clemson just has a lot of talent. If they play up to their talent they can beat anybody in the country.”
The Blue Devils boast six players ranked in the ITA Top 125, including No. 2 Beatrice Capra, while the Tigers and Yellow Jackets have two and three ranked players, respectively.
Among these ranked players are Clemson’s No. 55 Keri Wong and Georgia Tech’s No. 17 Jillian O’Neill. But arguably the best player from the two squads, the Tigers’ Josipa Bek, is not even ranked.
“The girl that’s played No. 1 all year has been top 10 in the country the last three years—she’s just had to deal with some injuries, but she’s back playing now,” Ashworth said. “She’s an extremely talented player. She’s a three-time All-American.”
The Blue Devils are 4-2 against opponents ranked in the top 25 and were handed their two losses by No. 1 UCLA and No. 2 Florida. By contrast, the Tigers and Yellow Jackets are 2-5 and 1-6 against top 25 teams, respectively.
“We can’t go off the numbers or the rankings because they’re really not accurate, and both teams could easily be top 10 in the country if they’d been healthy all year,” Ashworth said. “Both teams played earlier in the year without one of their best players, which forced them to make lineup changes and put people in positions where they haven’t been comfortable. Both are healthy now.”
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