Led by freshman Kaitlyn McCarthy, the Blue Devils ended their 2015 fall slate on a promising note despite not qualifying for the USTA/ITA National Championships.
Duke co-hosted the Kitty Harrison Invitational, a competition that gave McCarthy and other seven Blue Devils the opportunity to take on three squads that they will face in the spring—Virginia, Michigan and Texas. Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth’s squad will now have two full months to prepare for an intense spring semester.
McCarthy reached her 10th victory in her first year as a Blue Devil Sunday as the freshman from Cary, N.C., trounced South Carolina’s Hannah Templeton (6-0, 6-2). McCarthy—who has only allowed one game this fall—defeated Michigan’s Brienne Minor Friday and Ella Taylor of Louisiana State Saturday.
In doubles, the freshman and junior Alyssa Smith posted an 8-6 victory against the Virginia duo of Stephanie Nauta and Erica Susi Friday morning. In the afternoon, McCarthy joined sophomore Samantha Harris in doubles action and defeated the Texas tandem of Neda Korpcina and Lana Groenvynck 8-2 before falling to Devan McCluskey and Kimberly-Ann Surin of Penn State Saturday.
Another freshman, Jessica Ho, earned a singles victory as well, taking down Mira Ruder-Hook of Michigan Friday (6-1, 6-7, 6-3). In doubles, Ho and junior Chalena Scholl dropped their second contest this season, falling to the Cavalier duo of Maci Epstein and Victoria Olivarez.
Ellyse Hamlin—Duke's third freshman—only competed in doubles with senior Beatrice Capra, falling to the Texas tandem of Breaunna Addison and Dani Wagland by an 8-5 decision.
Smith and sophomore Rebecca Smaller defeated Virginia Commonwealth’s duo of Anna Rasmussen and Sofia Segerfors Friday, and the underclassman pairing of Smaller and Ho took down Katia Blik and Kelly Mengel of Penn State 6-2 one day later.
Armed with the lessons learned from the four tournaments they participated in this fall, the Blue Devils will travel to Las Vegas to open their spring slate at the three-day UNLV Invitational Jan. 15.
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