A few weeks ago Duke’s outlook was bleak. Now it appears the Blue Devils are back on track. Since adding senior soccer star Nicole Lipp to the squad to round out their injury-ridden rotation, Duke has now won four consecutive matches. The No. 7 Blue Devils posted a 4-3 victory against Virginia Friday and defeated Virginia Tech 4-1 Saturday at Ambler Tennis Stadium.
Hanna Mar won the decisive match for the Blue Devils (13-3, 4-0 in the ACC), winning a three-set thriller against the Cavaliers’ Stephanie Nauta. Mar won the third-set tiebreaker 8-6, taking her match by a score of 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 and giving Duke the victory against Virginia (10-7, 4-1).
The Blue Devils had less than 24 hours before their next test against Virginia Tech, and maintaining focus was crucial after a hard-fought victory.
“We had a really emotional match yesterday,” Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth said about his team’s 4-3 win against Virginia Friday. “We had to come out and not give Virginia Tech any kind of confidence.”
The Blue Devils got off to a strong start against the Hokies (13-5, 2-3). Hanna Mar and Mary Clayton defeated Virginia Tech’s Raluca Mita and Carol Kahoun 8-1 in just 32 minutes in the second doubles slot. Duke’s top doubles team of Annie Mulholland and Ester Goldfeld clinched the doubles point by defeating Illinca Stoica and Kelly Williford, breaking serve in the fifth game and dominating the rest of the set 8-3.
In singles play, the Blue Devils controlled their matches from the start, with Mar, Goldfeld, Annie Mulholland and Marianne Jodoin decisively winning their first sets 6-0. Goldfeld continued to make short work of Isel Martinez-Marcos, finishing the second set 6-1 to give Duke its first singles point. Taking 10 consecutive games, Mulholland celebrated her 20th birthday with an easy win against Williford to gave Duke a 3-0 lead.
On court one, Virginia Tech’s Stoica was able to slow down Mar in the second set 4-3, frustrating Mar by keeping points in play from the baseline and forcing errors. Mar had faced a long match the day before, battling back in a third-set tiebreaker to seal the win for the Blue Devils. Clayton was off to a slow start on court three, recovering from a 7-5 loss in the first set to Raluca Mita.
Nicole Lipp fell to Hokie Tea Ivanovic 6-2, 6-2. Key moments for Lipp included breaking Ivanovic’s serve in a grueling game in the first set and winning the first game of the second set with four straight points on her serve. She was nearly able to hold off the win before the match was clinched. The soccer star’s performance improves with each match she plays, which is promising for Duke as the Blue Devils near the end of the regular season.
The match was clinched by Jodoin, who claimed her 20th straight singles victory with a 6-0, 6-4 win against Carol Kahoun and improved Duke’s record to a perfect 18-0 all-time against the Hokies. With the win, Jodoin improved to a perfect 14-0 record in dual matches.
Jodoin will lead Duke into two more conference tilts this weekend, when the Blue Devils face Georgia Tech Saturday and No. 15 Clemson Sunday April 7. As the team continues with ACC play, Ashworth emphasized the need to get off to a quick start as they did on Saturday.
“We just have to keep doing the little things that we do well better,” Ashworth said. “We just talked about the serve, the return and the first ball—the three things that start off a point.”
Given the team’s recent injuries and tough losses to Michigan and Indiana earlier in the month, this win over Virginia Tech could be an important source of momentum for next weekend.
“It’s all a matter of our mindset, and I think that coming off of this weekend, we will be in a good frame of mind and playing with a little bit of confidence,” Ashworth said. “Playing with belief in each other which is key.”
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