With their five-game losing streak early in the season behind them, the Blue Devils are starting to find a groove in conference play.
No. 21 Duke turned in a strong performance on the road this weekend with a 6-1 victory against Boston College Friday and a 4-3 win against Syracuse Sunday. The pair of victories moved the Blue Devils to 4-0 after two weekends of ACC competition.
“Our confidence is good and getting better,” Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “Obviously, the more you win the more confident you feel, but for us it’s health too. We’re getting healthier and we’re giving people some different opportunities to play and I think we’ll keep getting better.”
Against the Eagles, Duke’s doubles team of Ester Goldfeld and Alyssa Smith got the Blue Devils (8-5, 4-0 in the ACC) off to a good start with a dominant 8-1 victory in their doubles match. The duo of senior Annie Mulholland and freshman Samantha Harris topped Asiya Dair and Jennifer Renn by the same margin. In both matches, Duke was able to take the first five games and put Boston College (7-6, 1-2) in a deep hole early.
“Our doubles play was better than it has been,” Ashworth said. “We were more efficient and we did a better job of creating opportunities with our serve.”
After securing the doubles point, the Blue Devils impressed in singles as well, finishing with a 5-1 record. No. 51 Goldfeld—playing in the top slot for Duke—recorded a 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 victory against No. 71 Jessica Wacnik despite struggling through a rough second set.
The victory moved the senior to within four wins of her 100th career singles triumph. Redshirt senior Rachel Kahan—ranked No. 86 in the most recent ITA poll—also turned in a solid performance for the Blue Devils and dropped only one game in her 6-1, 6-0 victory Friday against Boston College's Katya Vasilyev.
“We still have to cut down on the free points,” Ashworth said. “We still need to work on serve returns and getting the shot back in play on the first rally. We can’t give our opponents points too quickly in the rally.”
The Blue Devils were back on the courts Sunday against the Orange. Forced to play indoors due to wintry weather outside, Duke responded well once again behind strong performances from Goldfeld and Kahan.
Kahan got things started in doubles, teaming with junior Beatrice Capra to pull away from Amanda Rodgers and Nicole Mitchell, 8-3. Goldfeld then combined with freshman Rebecca Smaller to take down Syracuse's Rhiann Newborn and Breanna Bachini, 8-4, clinching the doubles point and giving Duke an early 1-0 lead for the second time in three days.
“We competed really well on doubles,” Ashworth said. “We got some quick sets in singles, but I thought Syracuse played really well to be honest with you. “They used their facility very well and it’s one of the toughest place to play in my 19 years of coaching.”
Mulholland doubled the Duke advantage, dropping just one game in a straight-set victory against Olivia Messineo, 6-0, 6-1. Goldfeld followed her classmate off the courts with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Syracuse's Valeria Salazar, putting the Blue Devils one point away from their fourth straight win.
The celebration would be delayed momentarily, as Harris was upset by Newborn Rodgers 5-7, 3-6 on court three. But Kahan rose to the occasion to clinch the victory against the Orange (6-6, 1-5), as the redshirt senior overpowered Bachini on court four, 6-4, 6-2.
With the outcome of the match already decided, the teams allowed the other singles matches to finish, with Syracuse claiming both of the remaining contests. In a battle of the teams' top singles players, Rodgers took down Capra 6-4, 7-5. Playing the only three-set match of the afternoon, Smaller fell to Komal Safdar, 1-6, 7-5, 6-10.
For a team that dropped five straight matches after starting the season ranked in the top five, the successful road stretch appears to have given the Blue Devils some much-needed confidence. Duke will spend part of its spring break in Las Vegas with contests scheduled with UNLV and N.C. State.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.