Sportswrap is your one-stop shop for everything Duke athletics, where we’ll recap how each of Duke’s sports currently in competition performed over the last week and give a brief look ahead. Here’s our recap for the week of Jan. 24-30.
Men’s basketball
The Blue Devils stretched out their winning run to three games—their longest such streak in ACC play thus far—after narrow wins against Clemson and Louisville. No. 9 Duke had its rough patches in its last week of play, but pushed forward with clutch shots from Jeremy Roach to sink Clemson at home and the aid of AJ Griffin, plus a late scoring run, to beat Louisville on the road. The Blue Devils face off against Notre Dame Monday before heading to Chapel Hill for its first matchup with North Carolina Saturday night. - Micah Hurewitz
Women’s basketball
The No. 21 Blue Devils’ grueling ACC slate continued this week, with a home clash against historic rivals North Carolina followed by a trip to Kentucky for a date with No. 5 Louisville. Neither result went Duke’s way, as the Blue Devils fell 78-62 to the Tar Heels and 77-65 to the Cardinals, snapping a two-game win streak from the week prior.
Despite the losses, Shayeann Day-Wilson and Miela Goodchild continued to inspire the Blue Devils offensively, with 25 points against Louisville and 14 points against North Carolina, respectively. Duke next faces No. 14 Georgia Tech in Cameron Indoor Stadium Tuesday. - Andrew Long
Men’s tennis
The Blue Devils traveled to South Carolina to compete in the ITA Playoff Weekend. They began the event with a 4-1 drubbing of Liberty, which included 3 wins in singles and two victories in doubles. However, Duke was unable to carry this momentum into its next matchup with No. 13 South Carolina, narrowly losing the contest 4-3 for its first loss of the season. The Blue Devils gave up the doubles point handily, falling 6-2 and 6-1, before mustering victories in half the singles matches to lose by only one point overall. The Blue Devils continue their season Friday at Illinois. - Robert Miron
Women’s tennis
The No. 8 Blue Devils hosted the ITA Kickoff Weekend at Sheffield Indoor Tennis Stadium, playing against Nebraska and No. 24 Oklahoma. On Saturday, they took care of Nebraska handily, winning 4-0. They won the doubles point with two quick wins from duo Kelly Chen and Ellie Coleman, as well as returning pair Chloe Beck and Margaryta Bilokin.
Sunday brought struggles during the championship, though, as the Blue Devils were unable to defeat the Sooners. The deciding doubles match went to a tiebreaker, but the Sooners were able to scrape out a win. Duke took home two singles wins, by Georgia Drummy and Bilokin. It dropped the other three and thus lost 4-2. Next for Duke is a Saturday road matchup against Furman. - Campbell Lawson
Wrestling
The Blue Devils took the heftiest loss of their season Friday night as they hosted No. 5 N.C. State at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Taking a 43-0 hit by the Wolfpack, every wrestler on the Duke roster was defeated by their opponent, including No. 13 Josh and No. 15 Matt Finesilver, who are the only ranked athletes on the team. This defeat marks the third straight match Duke has dropped. The Blue Devils next travel to Blacksburg, Va., to battle Virginia Tech Friday in their next attempt for an ACC victory. - Ana Young
Men’s golf
Duke finished tied for seventh in the 14-team Arizona Intercollegiate, which took place Monday and Tuesday. The Blue Devils scored 859 (-5) and were led by sophomore Ian Siebers, who finished ninth individually thanks to his impressive first round and final mark of 68 (-4) and 208 (-8), respectively. Freshmen Luke Sample and Kelly Chin also made an impact, as they both closed at 214 (-2). Duke will next travel to Panama City Feb. 20 for the Watersound Intercollegiate. - Jonah Pilnick
Swimming and diving
Duke fell to North Carolina this Friday at home, yet turned a historically non-competitive meet into a close call. While UNC won the women’s meet last year by 80 points, they only won this year’s matchup by eight. Punctuating the meet was an impressive performance by junior Sarah Foley, setting her third school record of the year with a 59.62 in the 100 breaststroke. The time marked her first performance under one minute, and would have finaled in the 2021 ACC Championships.
She wasn’t the only Blue Devil with a strong performance, though. Freshman standout Yixuan Chang swept her three individual events, including a 1:47.01 personal best in the 200 freestyle. Plus, senior Easop Lee turned in the third-fastest 200 backstroke performance in program history with a 1:56.22. Despite the losses of this month—a sharp contrast to their undefeated start to the season—the Blue Devils are certainly set up to have a strong performance at ACCs next month. -Babu Chatterjee
Track and field and fencing were off this week. They will return Feb. 4 and Feb. 12, respectively.
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