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. 8-15:
Men’s basketball
No. 11 Duke kept up its stellar start to 2024 with two big conference wins against Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech. The Blue Devils (13-3, 4-1 in the ACC) traveled north Tuesday night for their clash with the Panthers, where they came out on top in a 75-53 win behind a 26-point performance from sophomore center Kyle Filipowski. The squad from Durham then returned home Saturday evening for a rematch with the Yellow Jackets, whom it lost to Dec. 2. In a back-and-forth nailbiter, Duke managed to get its revenge with the 84-79 victory. Filipowski was once more the hero, leading the team with a career-high 30 points. The Blue Devils get a week of rest before they face off against Pittsburgh again on home turf Saturday. -Mackenzie Sheehy
Women’s basketball
Duke (11-5, 3-2) broke its .500 ACC split this week in a home matchup against Georgia Tech Sunday afternoon. Cameron Indoor Stadium was filled with Crazies, and the Blue Devils seemed to feed off of that energy, not once trailing en route to the 84-46 victory. Duke’s offensive kicked into drive and its intense defense held strong, which made for an impressive performance by the team. Freshman guard Oluchi Okananwa led the team with a formidable 21 points and nine rebounds and the Blue Devil bench stepped up, amassing 40 total points for the team. Next week, Duke takes on No. 11 Virginia Tech at home Thursday and faces No. 6 N.C. State on the road Sunday for more ACC play. -Lilah Gorfain
Women’s tennis
The 15th-ranked Blue Devils opened their season in their brand-new indoor facilities Saturday, taking down SMU 5-2. Duke opened the match by winning the ever-important doubles point, with junior Ellie Coleman and freshman Shavit Kimchi winning on court two and graduate students Brianna Shvets and Iuliia Bryzgalova securing the doubles victory on court three. On the singles side, the Blue Devils came out on top in four out of six matches. Kimchi, the 65th-ranked singles player in the country, played on court one in her first dual match appearance for Duke, but fell to the Mustangs’ Taylor Johnson in tiebreaks. Junior Emma Jackson, Coleman, Shvets and sophomore Katie Codd all won their matches to power the Blue Devils to a victory. Duke will continue its indoor campaign with three matches at home next week before playing in the ITA Kickoff Weekend starting Jan. 26. -Dom Fenoglio
Track and field
It was certainly a fresh start. Both the men’s and women’s teams began the year with a bang, snagging a collective nine first-place finishes at the JDL Mondo College Invitational in Winston Salem, N.C. Thanks to an impressive class of graduate transfers as well as a mix of rookies and returning stars, the Blue Devils reset meet records in four event categories on top of claiming their meet victories. Halle Bieber, Brianna Smith, Ezra Mellinger and Christian Johnson headlined Duke's success with individual victories that promise an exciting season to come, filled with defending a championship and climbing conference ranks. -Sophie Levenson
Wrestling
Duke (4-6) finally came back to Durham Monday, hoping to please fans with a victory in its home opener against Appalachian State. However, the match was a disastrous one for the Blue Devils, who fell by a score of 44-0 as not a single Duke wrestler managed to win their match. Captain Jarred Papcsy (149 lbs) was one of the few bright spots for the Blue Devils on the day. The Nazareth, Pa, native battled hard, but ultimately fell against Appalachian State’s Cody Bond, who is currently ranked No. 26 in the nation for his weight class. Next up, Duke will hope to bounce back as it travels to Boiling Springs, N.C., to take on Gardner-Webb. -Rodrigo Amare
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