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 Feb. 12-19:
Men’s basketball
The ninth-ranked Blue Devils bookended their week with victories on Monday and Saturday against Wake Forest and Florida State, respectively. Both games showcased excellence from freshman guard Jared McCain, who notched a double-double Monday with 10 boards and 17 points and then smashed records Saturday with 35 points and eight treys. Monday’s home game also saw ferocity from sophomore forward Mark Mitchell, whose 23 points carried the Blue Devils to its eight-point victory. Duke (20-5, 11-3 in the ACC) looks to continue its hot streak Wednesday at Miami. -Sophie Levenson
Women’s basketball
After claiming an emotionally charged win against rival North Carolina Sunday, the Blue Devils had a tall task ahead of them as they traveled to Blacksburg, Va., Thursday to take on No. 12 Virginia Tech. Despite holding its own in front of a sold-out crowd at Cassell Coliseum for almost the whole contest, Duke (16-8, 8-5) fell to the Hokies 61-56 after a spectacular 34-point performance for Virginia Tech center Elizabeth Kitley. Head coach Kara Lawson’s squad was paced by Ashlon Jackson, who had 18 points in the loss. They will now return to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on No. 16 Notre Dame Monday. -Caleb Dudley
Men’s lacrosse
The second-ranked Blue Devils’ dominance continues. Duke (3-0) hosted St. Joseph’s Saturday afternoon at Koskinen Stadium, and after a slow first quarter, conquered the Hawks in a 19-10 victory. Senior attacker Brennan O’Neill was able to complete his sock trick of six goals with support from graduate transfer Josh Zawada’s six assists. Senior faceoff specialist Jake Naso recorded a dominant 76.9% win rate to eliminate any chance of a St. Joseph’s comeback, while Dyson Williams recorded a hat trick alongside a plethora of goals from other Blue Devils. Duke now prepares for a Friday matchup against Jacksonville at home. -Colton Schwabe
Women’s lacrosse
All of the 25th-ranked Blue Devils’ action this week was crammed into about 25 hours. With the midweek open, Duke (2-2) welcomed No. 13 Johns Hopkins for its home opener Saturday afternoon. The first half was close, with graduate attacker Caroline DeBellis scoring four of her career-high five goals in the first 30 minutes, but a stellar 12-save performance from Blue Jay goalie Madison Doucette gave the visitors the 17-13 advantage. In Sunday’s 25-5 domination of Winthrop, everyone got involved. The Blue Devils boasted 12 different goal scorers, paced by senior attacker Katie DeSimone’s six-goal first half. Duke has the midweek free again before starting ACC play Saturday against Clemson. -Rachael Kaplan
Baseball
No. 16 Duke opened its season with Baseball at the Beach, playing three games in Conway, S.C. After thoroughly beating Indiana in their first game and hitting a program-record 11 home runs against George Mason in their second, the Blue Devils (3-0) took a close one against the hosts. In a rematch of last year’s regional final, Duke beat Coastal Carolina 5-3, riding a strong outing from the bullpen that held the Chanticleers to just five hits. The Blue Devils debuted their all-transfer infield, as junior Wallace Clark, redshirt senior Zac Morris, graduate Logan Bravo and graduate Ben Miller tallied 21 total RBIs on the weekend. Up next is the home opener against Liberty Wednesday. -Dom Fenoglio
Softball
No. 5 Duke didn’t lose once. This weekend, the Blue Devils (8-1) traveled to Miami for the FIU Invitational. The team started with a win against Rutgers, where senior pitcher Jala Wright threw the 10th complete game of her career, before Duke executed shutouts of West Point and FIU. The weekend’s batting efforts were led by junior Ana Gold, who tallied in her 100th career hit and posted seven runs, senior Claire Davidson, who totalled 6 RBIs, and sophomore Aminah Vega with five RBIs of her own. Next weekend, with eight consecutive wins under their belt, the Blue Devils host an invitational at home. -Lilah Gorfain
Men’s tennis
No. 15 Duke traveled to New York this weekend for the National Team Indoor Championships to compete amongst 16 of the best teams in the country. The 13th-seeded Blue Devils (8-4) fell to ACC foe and No. 4-seed Virginia 4-1 as the extremely talented Cavaliers took care of business by defeating Duke’s top two singles players — Garrett Johns and Pedro Rodenas. However, the Blue Devils bounced back against No. 12-seed Southern California as Johns, Rodenas and Alexander Visser all won singles matches. The final contest came against No. 8-seed Columbia, where the hometown Lions blanked the visitors 4-0. Duke will stay up north for matches at Harvard and Boston College this week. -Ranjan Jindal
Track and field
The Blue Devils rounded out the regular indoor track season by breaking yet another school record, this time in the men’s 4000m distance medley relay. Austin Gabay, Alejandro Rodriguez, Owen Drometer and Beck Wittstadt joined forces to run a lightning 9:29.20 at the BU Terrier DMR challenge. The race earned them a seventh-place finish and beat out the previous record by over five seconds. Pole vaulter Paige Sommers also competed this weekend at the Virginia Tech Challenge, placing fifth with a final height of 4.12m (13-6.25 feet). The track and field teams now prepare for the ACC Championships next weekend in Boston. -Abby DiSalvo
Wrestling
Duke’s disappointing season continued Sunday against No. 8 N.C. State in Cameron Indoor Stadium, as the Blue Devils (4-12, 0-4) fell by a score of 36-9 in their final home match of the season. The contest began with a celebration of Duke’s six senior wrestlers, and ended in a thoroughly dominant Wolfpack victory. The Blue Devils’ defeat was the team’s seventh in a row, and 31st consecutive in A.C.C. play across the past six years. On the bright side, captains Jarred Papcsy and Connor Barket picked up big wins to prevent the shutout. Duke closes out regular season play in Chapel Hill against rivals UNC on Friday. -Rodrigo Amare
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