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 May 9-15.
Women's tennis
No. 3-seed Duke is moving on once again at the NCAA tournament, this time after defeating No. 14-seed Georgia 4-1 to punch its ticket to the Elite Eight. After the Blue Devils took the doubles point and received a pair of quick wins from Chloe Beck and Emma Jackson, Georgia Drummy sealed the deal against her college namesake with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win on court two. Now, this Duke team is back in the final week of competition and will ready itself for a Friday match against ACC foe and No. 6-seed N.C. State—which the Blue Devils beat 4-3 in April—for a spot in Saturday’s semifinal. If all goes according to plan for Duke, this team may well be playing for the college tennis crown come Sunday. -Jonathan Levitan
Women's lacrosse
After taking down Johns Hopkins 17-12 to start the NCAA tournament Friday, the Blue Devils ultimately had their championship hopes cut short. They fell 19-6 to the second-seeded Terrapins in Sunday's second-round matchup after only scoring one goal in the second half. Despite the loss and the season’s end, Duke has much to be proud of, ending its season with an overall record of 16-4, with those 16 wins tied for third-most in program history. In addition, with her 10 against Johns Hopkins, senior attacker Maddie Jenner broke the NCAA record for draw controls in a single season. She added four draw controls against Maryland to finish the season with 233, beating the previous record of 224 by nine. -Sasha Richie
Women's golf
The Blue Devils had their chances down the stretch at NCAA Regionals, but they could not catch Texas A&M for the fourth and final NCAA Championship spot. At the Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn., No. 4-seed Duke finished in fifth at +4, one agonizing shot behind the Aggies. It marks the first time that the team will not compete in the final leg of the postseason since 2011. Erica Shepherd and Anne Chen matched each other in a tie for 11th at -2, with Phoebe Brinker, Rylie Heflin and Megan Furtney coming in at +3 (tie for 23rd), +5 (tie for 30th) and +11 (tie for 45th), respectively. Time will tell whether the Blue Devils can build off this week, but with the entire roster set to return, expectations for 2022-23 will be fairly high. -Max Rego
Softball
Duke was knocked out of the ACC tournament by eventual-champion Florida State but landed a spot as a host for the upcoming NCAA Regional. The No. 2-seed Blue Devils knocked four long balls in a 9-6 win against Georgia Tech in the quarterfinals Thursday before taking an 8-6 loss Friday at the hands of the Seminoles, going scoreless in the last two frames. No. 12-seed Duke opens NCAA play Friday against America East champion UMBC in Durham. In the double-elimination opening round, the Blue Devils' region also features Liberty, which bested Duke during the regular season, and Georgia, the team that ousted the Blue Devils a year ago. -Molly Honecker
Track & field
Hosting this year's ACC Outdoor Championships in Durham, the Blue Devils worked their way to a pair of notable finishes by the conclusion of the three-day event. The women's team claimed second place with a timely first-place finish in the 4x400m relay and received gold-medal efforts from Erin Marsh and Lauren Hoffman, following up its 2021 outdoor title with another impressive outing. The Blue Devil men put together their best performance at the event since 2015 with a joint sixth-place finish, headlined by graduate student Erick Duffy's victory in the pole vault. Duke now gets a break before resuming its season May 25-28 at the NCAA East Regional in Bloomington, Ind. -Levitan
Rowing
All roads lead to Rome, or in this case, Clemson, S.C. Duke had an impressive weekend in the ACC Championship, grabbing first in the 2V4 Grand Final, second in the 3V8 and V4 Grand Finals and third in the V8 and 2V8. In fact, there wasn’t a race in which the Blue Devils finished lower than third all weekend. The group was just narrowly edged by Syracuse’s 83 points to finish third with 82 points, while Virginia came up trumps. Duke awaits Tuesday’s selection show before the NCAA Championship kicks off May 27. -Andrew Long
Baseball
The Blue Devils had a rough week, dropping two of three to N.C. State after falling to East Carolina. It was not all gloomy for Duke (21-29, 10-17 in the ACC), however, as the Sunday series finale included some highlights from bullpen arms Luke Fox and Jimmy Loper while the offense heated up in the 7-4 victory. Sophomore Luke Storm had a great weekend as he finished off the Wolfpack with a 3-for-4 day with two doubles and what would become the game-winning RBI. The Blue Devils are staying alive in the race for the final spot in the ACC tournament by the skin of their teeth and look forward to taking on Davidson Tuesday before heading north to Blacksburg, Va., to take on Virginia Tech in the last week of the regular season. -Micah Hurewitz
Men's golf and men's tennis did not compete this past week.
Men's golf, the No. 7 seed in the upcoming NCAA Columbus Regional, is back in action beginning Monday with a trip to the NCAA Championship on the line.
Men's tennis will not compete as a team again in 2021-22, but junior Garrett Johns received an at-large bid to the NCAA Singles Championship, which begins after both team champions are crowned in Illinois.
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