Hoping they can peak at the right time and make a long postseason run, the Blue Devils will kick off the NCAA Team Championship at home in the friendly confines of Ambler Tennis Stadium.
No. 5 Duke will take on East Tennessee State in the first round of the NCAA Team Championship Friday at 1 p.m. If the fourth-seeded Blue Devils knock out the Buccaneers, they will take on the winner of the morning match between South Carolina and Ohio State Saturday at 3 p.m.
Duke is hoping that the luxury of hosting the early rounds will bring out its best tennis of the season, even against unfamiliar foes.
“We work hard to play the NCAA at home and have that advantage of playing a school from a non-BCS conference,” Blue Devil head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “East Tennessee State is a good team, they won their conference and they’ve earned their way into the tournament. What we have to do in a match like that is...really concentrate on what we’re doing and worry about ourselves. We won’t have the luxury of having the scouting report we’ve had for the past six weeks.”
In addition to dealing with new opponents for the first time since early in the season, the Blue Devils (24-4, 11-3 in the ACC) will have to deal with the distraction of hosting postseason matches during graduation weekend.
Two of Duke’s players—Hanna Mar and Marianne Jodoin—are seniors hoping that they can close out their Blue Devil careers on a high note. They will look to set the tone and overcome the emotional obstacles of the weekend against East Tennessee State (14-8, 7-1 in the Atlantic Sun), a squad with four players who have earned 14 wins in 2014.
“We don’t really address it,” Ashworth said. “We don’t want people to get too emotional before they play. Obviously you have family obligations coming in and they’ll handle that really well. Even though there are activities going on campus, we have priorities that we’ve been working towards and for all year.”
Should Duke take care of business against the Buccaneers, the Blue Devils will have to deal with an upset-minded squad from a power conference in the Buckeyes (19-8, 8-3 in the Big Ten) or the Gamecocks (16-10, 6-7 in the SEC). Both teams boast nationally-ranked singles players and doubles teams.
Sophomore Beatrice Capra—the seventh-ranked player in the nation—will look to anchor the Duke lineup as she has all season. The Blue Devils will be heavily favored to advance to the tournament’s second weekend with Capra, Mar and junior Ester Goldfeld all ranked in the top 30 and three doubles squads ranked in the top 50, but they know that their regular-season body of work is now meaningless.
Although the records will be reset this weekend, Duke’s 12-0 home mark gives the Blue Devils yet another advantage against the teams traveling to Durham.
“We’ve worked really hard to create a good atmosphere here to play in,” Ashworth said. “Our girls know that and understand that and are hoping to feed off of that…. The first two rounds is always over graduation, so being able to have outside family and friends come in helps. Last year we were sent to Lubbock, Texas, and that’s what we deserved, but I think that they cherish that opportunity to play here a lot more.”
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