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 April 25-May 8.
Women's tennis
The third-seeded Blue Devils hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament this past weekend, defeating Quinnipiac and Old Dominion in respective 4-0 and 4-1 performances. In its win Friday against the Bobcats, Duke won every set and did so by significant margins. Saturday was another strong effort, as after winning the doubles point in a tight 2-1 decision, the Blue Devils got the three extra points that they needed on the singles side from Margaryta Bilokin, Kelly Chen and Emma Jackson. Duke will next host No. 14-seed Georgia in the super regionals Friday. -Ana Young
Men's tennis
After starting the NCAA tournament off on the right foot with a 4-1 Friday win against Memphis, Duke’s season came to an end Saturday at the hands of No. 6-seed Tennessee. The Blue Devils landed the first punch in the second-round bout by taking the doubles point but faltered on the singles side, eventually falling 4-1 to the Volunteers. Still, there are plenty of positives for this young Duke squad to look back on after its deepest postseason run since 2015. -Jonathan Levitan
Men's lacrosse
The 12th-ranked Blue Devils traveled to South Bend, Ind., to end their regular season Saturday against No. 7 Notre Dame. After a strong first half, including nine goals in the second quarter, that saw them enter the third quarter with a four-goal lead, they couldn’t keep up the energy in the second half and ultimately fell 16-14 to the Fighting Irish after conceding six unanswered goals to end the game. That game proved to be the end of Duke’s season as well, as it didn’t hear its name called for the NCAA tournament come Selection Sunday, with the only representative from the ACC being Virginia. This marks the first time under head coach John Danowski that the Blue Devils (11-6, 3-3 in the ACC) have missed the NCAA tournament. -Sasha Richie
Women's lacrosse
In the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament, Duke saw its conference championship hopes dashed as it fell to Notre Dame 19-11. Graduate student Abby Landry led the Blue Devils' comeback effort with five goals, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Notre Dame's red-hot start; the Fighting Irish scored on each of their first 11 shots, eight of which came in the first quarter alone. Despite the upset loss, Duke’s season will continue into the NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils received an at-large bid and will face Johns Hopkins in the first round Friday in College Park, Md. -Rachael Kaplan
Softball
The tenth-ranked Blue Devils closed out an impressive regular season with a 12-2 win Tuesday against Campbell and a three-game sweep of Pittsburgh. Duke (40-7, 19-3 in the ACC) never trailed against the Panthers, eking out a 3-2 victory Friday between 9-1 and 6-1 wins. On the week, Duke's pitching allowed just six runs—only four of which were earned—to secure a conference-leading 1.74 ERA. The Duke bats also showed out, logging 36 hits and 30 runs to further bolster their conference-leading .335/.425/.625 slash line. Duke looks to keep the ball rolling into postseason play at the ACC tournament, in which its begins play Friday as the No. 2 seed. -Molly Honecker
Baseball
Duke put an end to its recent struggles on the road with a victory this past weekend. After hosting High Point for both a win and loss in a May 1 doubleheader, the Blue Devils (20-26, 9-15) lost 6-3 to Campbell on the road Tuesday. Duke traveled to Pittsburgh for its next three contests, where it played one game Saturday and two Sunday against the Panthers. Duke lost those first two games, falling 14-4 Saturday and then 3-2 Sunday morning. Eventually, the Blue Devils found a rhythm in the weekend's final game with successful third and fourth innings to defeat Pittsburgh 15-5. Duke next heads to Greenville, N.C., Tuesday night to take on East Carolina. -Young
Track & field
In its last meet of the regular season, Duke made the short trip north Sunday to participate in the Virginia Invitational in Charlottesville, Va. If in recent weeks the spotlight has been on stellar relays, this week it was on the javelin, where sophomore Scott Campbell and junior Luke Jackson both entered into the program’s top-five all-time throws and senior Dana Baker registered her third javelin win of the year. Duke also took first in the women’s 100m hurdles and men’s pole vault, courtesy of Isabel Wakefield and Erick Duffy, respectively. Championship season beckons for the Blue Devils, who next take on the ACC Outdoor Championships in Durham starting Thursday. -Andrew Long
Women's golf, men's golf and rowing did not compete in the past two weeks.
Both golf teams were selected to the NCAA Regional Championship, with the women claiming the No. 4 seed in the Franklin Regional, hosted by Vanderbilt starting Monday, and the men selected as the No. 7 seed in the Columbus Regional, hosted by Ohio State May 16-18.
Rowing will return to action Friday and Saturday for the ACC Championship in Clemson, S.C. The Blue Devils are the No. 1 seed in the V4, the No. 3 seed in the 2V4 and the No. 2 seed in each of the V8, 2V8 and 3V8.
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