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For the second time this season, the No. 3 women's tennis team (8-1) lost two of three doubles matches and found itself down 1-0. Yesterday, it was at No. 6 Texas (8-1).
There would be no rematch of the nation's top two women tennis players. At least not this weekend.
The women's tennis team (3-0) showed why it is ranked third in the nation last weekend with convincing wins over No. 20 Ohio State (4-1) and No. 50 Indiana (6-1). On Saturday at College Park, Md., the Blue Devils handed the Hoosiers their first loss of the season in a 7-0 victory. Freshmen Ansley Cargill and Amanda Johnson, seniors Megan Miller and Kathy Sell and sophomores Katie Granson and Prim Siripipat dominated singles play, losing only 19 games in their six matches. "We came out strong at the start," co-captain Sell said. "Sometimes the other teams aren't willing to put up a fight when we come out ready to go." The doubles teams of Miller-Johnson, Cargill-Sell and Hillary Adams-Granson swept Indiana with 8-1, 8-2 and 8-2 wins, respectively. "We did a good job in doubles putting teams away and not letting them get into any of their matches," coach Jamie Ashworth said. The most impressive victory of the weekend, though, came Friday night as Duke swept Ohio State 7-0. Last year, the Blue Devils barely defeated the Buckeyes in a 5-4 win in their first match at the Sheffield Tennis Center on campus. This year's Ohio State team returned every player from last year's squad, yet it was unable to match Duke's depth at every position. Cargill, ranked No. 2 in the nation, defeated Ohio State's 19th-ranked senior Kristy Dascoli, dominating the first set 6-2 and holding Dascoli off in the second 7-5 to take the win. Sixteenth-ranked Johnson won easily at No. 2 singles with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Monica Rincon. No. 6 Miller, No. 14 Sell and Granson all picked up 6-1, 6-1 wins at the third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively. Rounding out Duke's sweep was Adams with a 7-5, 6-1 triumph. In doubles action, Miller and Johnson had an impressive 8-5 victory over No. 5 Dascoli and Rincon. "Amanda and I are really playing well together," Miller said. "We know each other's movements and we've got great chemistry." The Blue Devils also walked away with an 8-1 doubles victory from Sell and Cargill at the No. 2 spot and an 8-5 win from Adams and Granson at No. 3. While Ashworth was pleased with Duke's overall play this weekend, the Blue Devils' coach singled out the strong performance of Miller. "Megan's play was the biggest thing for us this weekend," Ashworth said. "She lost two games in two singles matches, and her performance is huge for us." Miller, an All-American last year who played No. 1 singles at Duke, has had to accept a different role on this year's younger squad. "I talked to my father last weekend about refocusing," she said. "I went out determined to prove I can do whatever I need to do to help our team." Ashworth said he will need Miller and the rest of her teammates to be on the top of their games next weekend when they compete at the National Team Indoors in Madison, Wisc., second in prestige only to the NCAA Championships in May. "Any time you come out and make a statement like this before a big tournament, it's great for your confidence," Sell said. "Everyone knows how good we are."
While most of the fourth-ranked Duke women's tennis team was battling the flu, freshman Ansley Cargill again showed why she was one of the most heavily recruited high school players in the nation last year, as she won the third tournament of her young collegiate career at the adidas Tennis Classic in Orlando, Fla., last weekend.
Despite a rowdy crowd and ultra-fast courts, the fourth-ranked Duke women's tennis team managed to escape its first dual match of the season at 13th ranked Notre Dame yesterday with a tough 4-3 victory.
After a break from competition following the Nike Cup in mid-November, the women's and men's swimming and diving teams returned to action with mixed results Saturday in a dual meet at East Carolina. The women improved their record to 3-1 with a solid 133-110 victory over the Pirates, while the men dropped to 2-2 after a 134-108 loss.
Although the rowing team had some strong races at Saturday's Head of the Chattahoochee in Gainsville, Ga., it was also defeated by some familiar rivals.
While their male counterparts were celebrating their first conference title in more than two decades, the Duke women left Raleigh with a somehow-lacking fourth-place finish at Saturday's ACC Championships.
Despite the illnesses that plagued several top runners last week, the Duke women's cross country team finished fourth out of 31 teams at Friday's Notre Dame Invitational.
Before the rowing race against North Carolina in the Lake Michie Invitational, coach Robyn Horner said, "I am really looking for our team to make a statement this weekend.... I believe we can be very successful."
The Duke men's cross country team participated in the Great American Cross Country Festival Friday, coming home with a respectable showing of 4th place out of 21 teams. Three Duke runners placed in the top 20. Senior Terry Brennan was the team's top runner, finishing in 8th place with a time of 24:31.1. Junior Sean Kelly followed in 11th place at 24:37.9 and freshman runner Chris Williams turned in a time of 25:54.0, finishing 19th. Junior runner Jay Champi was happy with the team's performance. "The meet was good enough in that it showed we've come a long way and we're getting better," he said. "But finishing just 10 points behind Michigan State was also enough to keep us hungry." Coach Norm Ogilvie said the meet showed that the Blue Devils' top runners are among the nation's elite. "We have a couple of guys, in Brennan and Kelly, who can run with anybody," he said. Ogilvie also stressed the depth of this year's team, which is again without a front-runner but loaded with talent from top to bottom. "The benchmark time in college running is 25 minutes and we had four guys break that mark," he said. "Depending on what kind of luck N.C. State ends up having with injuries, we could even have better depth than them." The inclement weather seemed to be a problem for the runners at the start of the race, as an unfavorable draw for a starting place left the runners beginning the race in a puddle. "It was a very fast course once we got out on the trail," Champi said. "But the starting position we had was in about three inches of water; we were about ankle deep, but that was the only thing that really slowed us down." Champi also added that running in the evening was an additional challenge. "The night and running under the lights made it difficult; there's definite room for improvement there," he said. Looking ahead to the rest of the season, the team hopes to continue improving and perhaps make a run at perennial power N.C. State. "We know we still have a long way to go, but we think we're capable of being a top-20 team," Champi said. "We want to beat N.C. State; we think they're vulnerable this year." With the team's next meet coming Oct. 6 at the Notre Dame Invitational, Ogilvie also felt the meet showed good signs for the rest of the season. "It was a tough meet; there were three nationally ranked teams there," he said. "Even though we finished behind two teams, I think we showed we're way better than the other teams in the region and the new poll comes out [today], so we're hoping we'll be ranked. We believe we've earned it."
Unlike previous years, the Duke women's tennis team will not be competing in the ITA Clay Court Championships.
Fresh off two victories at the Nike Carolina Classic, the Duke women's soccer team looks to continue its winning ways tomorrow at 3 p.m. against Florida State in its first home game of the season at Koskinen Stadium. Although the Seminoles (5-3) have not boasted a strong lineup in the past, their current No. 15 ranking in the Soccer America poll is the highest ever for a Florida State soccer team. They have already defeated Florida and Texas A&M, two perennial top-10 teams, and they nearly upset fifth-ranked Clemson in their home opener. Tomorrow's matchup will be the Blue Devils' second ACC game of the year. The team survived a tough 2-1 victory at Maryland in its ACC opener and looks to stay atop its division with a win against the Seminoles. "Florida State has made major strides in becoming a soccer power," coach Bill Hempen said. "They have a young team that is really playing well and they have a lot of confidence from their big wins." Still, the seventh-ranked Blue Devils (6-0) are favored heading into this weekend. Duke is led by top scorer Sarah Pickens and freshman forward Gwendolyn Oxenham. The strong play of goalies Isis Dallis and Thora Helgadottir has been equally impressive. "We're pretty solid everywhere," Hempen said. "We're a balanced team that relies on contributions from everyone. I don't think that we have a real superstar." The Blue Devils are looking forward to playing in front of their own fans after starting the season at Maryland, Richmond and the Nike Carolina Classic in Chapel Hill. Florida State, on the other hand, has played only one game on the road, a 2-0 shutout victory Wednesday night at South Alabama. "We're a little nervous, but it's definitely a good kind of nervous," Oxenham said of finally playing at Koskinen Stadium. "We want to get a lot of students to come out and watch us play." Hempen is not looking for anything unusual from his players tomorrow. He simply asks for "the maximum effort and complete mental and physical preparedness." "[Practice this week] has been very intense, but that's not unusual," Oxenham said. "We didn't prepare any differently because we are playing Florida State." The Blue Devils boast a 4-0-1 record against the Seminoles since 1995, including a 3-1 victory on the road last season. When Florida State traveled to Durham in 1998, the teams played to a scoreless draw. Despite Duke's strong start, Hempen remains cautiously optimistic about his team's chances against Florida State. "Every game in the ACC is going to be difficult, and this one is no exception," he said.
