It might not have been home, but a team-friendly atmosphere allowed the Blue Devils to flourish this past weekend.
For just the second time this season, head coach Jamie Ashworth was able to see the majority of his players at one tournament, as Duke took the courts at the ITA Regionals in Chapel Hill, N.C. The team had not competed in the same time zone since Sept. 12 at the Duke Invitational. The opportunity to have most of his team in one place was not one lost on the Duke coach of 18 years.
"You can't put a value on being able to see them in-person," Ashworth said. "It makes a huge difference for them to see each other too and feed off of each other. It's one of the hard things about our season being split and the fall being more individual, especially for freshmen. They come in and it's basically junior tennis all over again until they get that feeling of team stuff, which truly doesn't happen until January."
One rookie who seems to be adapting just fine to the fall slate is freshman Rebecca Smaller. The London native has had an exceptional opening semester's worth of performances, as she and redshirt senior Rachel Kahan entered this weekend's tournament with a perfect 4-0 record.
The duo excelled in the early going, taking down pairs from UNC-Greensboro and Appalachian State to advance to 6-0 and the second round. Unfortunately for the pair, the magic ended there, as South Carolina’s Hadley Berg and Elixane Lechemia handed Smaller and Kahan their first doubles loss of the season 8-7 (6).
Ashworth was still quick to praise the duo, which has been Duke's most successful doubles squad this fall.
"It's not odd and it wasn't expected," Ashworth said of the pair's performance. "Rachel is really solid from the baseline and doesn't make a lot of mistakes and returns serves really well. Rebecca's been really good at returning serves at the net."
The doubles pair of senior Ester Goldfeld and sophomore Alyssa Smith did not enter the weekend on the same kind of hot streak, as the duo entered having lost its only match of the season to San Jose State’s Marie Klocker and Gaelle Rey, 7-5, 6-2.
Despite the early disappointing play to start the season, the pair still came into ITA Regionals as the No. 1 seed, good for a bye in the round of 64. The experienced pair cruised through the next three rounds, picking up wins against duos from Winthrop, N.C. State and South Carolina. Their run would come to an end Sunday, though, as North Carolina's Ashley Dai and Kate Vialle took down the top-seeded Blue Devils 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (7).
Although they might not have taken the tournament title back to Durham, Ashworth and his staff were pleased to see improved play from the pair after their opening loss at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships. But, as is always the case in the beginning of the season, the pair still has some things to tighten up.
"When they play well, they play with a lot of energy," Ashworth said. "In California, they came out flat. This weekend, their energy level was better than it's been and they need to continue to improve on that. It wasn't great by any means, but it was better than it's been and it's a step in the right direction.... They have to be able to finish points. That last match against UNC that they lost, they definitely had some opportunities."
In singles action, Smaller, Kahan and Goldfeld all managed to play off the momentum of their doubles success, each advancing to at least the quarterfinals. Smaller fell to Clemson's Beatrice Gumulya 6-1, 7-5 Sunday morning and Kahan was forced to pull out of her match against North Carolina's Caroline Price due to injury.
Goldfeld's trip would not end in the quarters, though, as she defeated South Carolina's Elixane Lechemia 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals. Clemson's No. 5 seed Joana Eidukonyte would end Goldfeld's run, defeating the senior Blue Devil 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Smith advanced to the round of 16 before losing to Gumulya and senior Annie Mulholland fell to North Carolina’s Casandra Vasquez in the opening round to round out the Blue Devils' tournament performers.
"Rebecca, when you look at it comparatively, she probably had the best weekend out of anybody," Ashworth said. "Ester got some matches in. She's had some struggles this fall and just to get some confidence and win some matches before losing a tough one yesterday was good for her."
The Blue Devils will use this past weekend as a reminder of their potential and also of squandered opportunities. After finishing 27-5 and advancing to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament last season, Duke will have high expectations heading into its spring slate.
As the squad gears up for the National Indoors in New York City and Tar Heel Invitational back in Chapel Hill in two weeks, it will look to use the down time to work on finishing strong—something the Blue Devils perfected last season.
"As a whole, we have to get better," Ashworth said. "There were some opportunities for individual players throughout the weekend that we didn't capitalize on. We need to be better in two weeks when we play again."
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