Sportswrap: Women's basketball exits NCAA tournament, men's and women's lacrosse win

Mia Heide reaches for a shot by Colorado's Quay Miller in Duke's Round of 32 loss Monday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Mia Heide reaches for a shot by Colorado's Quay Miller in Duke's Round of 32 loss Monday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

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 March 20-26.

Women’s basketball

After surpassing expectations and making a huge leap from 10th place to second in the ACC, Duke’s magical season came to an end Monday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The third-seeded Blue Devils (26-7, 14-4 in the ACC) lost to No. 6-seed Colorado 61-53 in the second round of the NCAA tournament, coming back from an early deficit and taking the game into overtime. Now, the Blue Devils must pivot to focusing on next season. With Elizabeth Balogun out of eligibility, Celeste Taylor almost certainly headed for the WNBA draft and Jordyn Oliver reportedly in the transfer portal, head coach Kara Lawson has some rebuilding to do. -Martin Heintzelman

Men’s lacrosse

These Blue Devils keep rolling. On Monday, a dominant 13-for-17 showing from FOGO Jake Naso and a combined seven goals by senior Dyson Williams and junior Brennan O’Neill surged No. 4 Duke (9-1, 2-0) past Air Force 18-6. St. Joseph’s put up a fight Saturday before eventually falling 12-9, giving the Blue Devils their seventh-straight win. O’Neill again led his team in attack with six total points, backed up by sophomore Andrew McAdorey with two goals and an assist. Up next is a date with No. 3 Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., at 5 p.m. Friday. -Andrew Long

Women’s lacrosse

The 18th-ranked Blue Devils are once more in the winner’s circle this week after snapping a four-game losing streak. In Wednesday’s matchup against East Carolina, Duke (6-5, 1-4) earned a 13-10 victory while graduate student Maddie Jenner tallied her 100th career goal. With a win under their belts, the Blue Devils traveled up north Sunday as they took on Pittsburgh. Garnering their first ACC win, Duke prevailed in dominant fashion with a 16-8 performance. Senior Lexi Schmalz led the Blue Devils to victory with a season-high five goals, while graduate student Eva Greco and junior Katie DeSimone each added four of their own. Duke will return home Saturday as it takes on Virginia Tech at 1 p.m. Koskinen Stadium. -Mackenzie Sheehy

Baseball

The Blue Devils went back on the road for a weekend conference series against the 19th-ranked Tar Heels. After dropping game one 6-3, junior Alex Mooney came through in game two with a three-run home run in the eighth inning to put Duke (15-9, 4-5) on top 8-5. However, North Carolina took the series by winning the rubber match 5-3 Saturday on a tough day for the Blue Devils’ lineup, dropping them to 4-5 in ACC play. This week, Duke takes on Liberty away before returning home Friday at noon for its first series at Jack Coombs Field against Pittsburgh. -Dom Fenoglio

Softball

After beating Liberty 7-2, the Blue Devils hosted No. 7 Florida State, earning their first regular season win against the Seminoles but dropping the other two contests. On Friday, the Duke (26-7, 8-4 in the ACC) lineup was silenced, leading to a 4-1 loss. Cassidy Curd returned the favor Saturday and an Aminah Vega home run sealed the deal for the 2-1 victory, the team’s 100th at home. On Sunday, rain delays and travel schedules cut short a shaky Blue Devil performance in the sixth inning with a final score of 7-3. Duke next heads to Blacksburg, Va., Friday for a series with No. 15 Virginia Tech. -Molly Honecker

Women’s tennis

On Wednesday, the eighth-ranked Blue Devils closed out nonconference play with a 7-0 win against No. 21 Northwestern before embarking on their final out-of-state road trip of the regular season. On Friday, second-ranked senior Chloe Beck collected her 100th career singles win after a 6-2, 6-0 defeat of Syracuse’s Zeynep Erman. Beck is only the 29th Blue Devil to achieve 100 career singles wins, as she advanced her overall career record to 100-24, doing so in three-and-a-half years. After defeating the Orange 6-1, Duke steamrolled Boston College Sunday afternoon 7-0, advancing its win streak to seven matches. Up next is a Friday match against Miami, followed by a Saturday date with Florida State. -Anna Newberry

Men’s tennis

The 15th-ranked Blue Devils finished their busy weekend with a 2-0 record, picking up a 7-0 win at Clemson and a 6-1 victory at Georgia Tech. On Friday against the Tigers, Duke (13-5, 6-1) picked up the doubles point with two tiebreaking victories on courts one and three. Junior Faris Khan’s 7-5, 6-0 win on court six clinched the match. Traveling to Ken Byers Tennis Complex in Atlanta, Duke continued its momentum Sunday. Freshman Pedro Roedenas was impressive in this one, winning his doubles match alongside senior Garrett Johns and defeating junior Marcus McDaniel in his singles match 7-5, 6-4 on court two. The Blue Devils next take on Wake Forest and N.C. State at home Friday and Sunday, respectively. -Garrett Spooner

Fencing

The Blue Devils hosted the NCAA Championships this weekend with the nation’s best fencers duking it out at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke concluded its season by garnering a ninth-place overall finish, with Notre Dame ultimately taking home the team title. Senior captain Terence Lee and junior Stephen Kim led the way for the Blue Devil contingent, taking home ninth and 10th place, respectively, in the saber event. Both fencers earned All-America honors for their performances. On the women’s front, junior captain and foilist Christina Ferrari ended her season with a 13th-place finish, while freshman Kunling Tong took home 19th in the saber. -Sheehy

Track and field

Duke took quite the stand in its second outdoor meet of the season at Raleigh Relays, collecting 18 top-five finishes shared between runners and field athletes. The Blue Devil women took first in their top event — the 4x400m — while flexing talent in a wide variety of events ranging from the pole vault invitational to the 200m, which featured a first-place victory by sophomore sprinter Megan McGinnis. On the men’s end of things, graduate student Robbie Otal broke the program record for discus, setting it at 61.55m. Duke will keep busy this weekend, gearing up again for the VertKlasse Meeting in High Point, N.C., starting Friday. -Sophie Levenson

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