The women's golf Atlantic Coast Conference championships are next week, and the fifth-ranked Blue Devils like their chances for a second consecutive title.
But Wake Forest stands in Duke's way, much like the Demon Deacons did last weekend at the South Florida Deacon Woods Invitational at Tampa, Fla.
Led by individual tournament champion Stephanie Neill, Wake edged the Blue Devils by a single stroke (922-923) to take the team title.
Duke's second-place finish behind the Deacons comes two weeks after Wake edged the Blue Devils for second place at a tournament in Texas.
Although his team was edged again by conference-rival Wake, head coach Dan Brooks is pleased to see the Blue Devils playing well after struggling a bit earlier this spring.
"It was disappointing to lose to them, we're talking about one shot of 900 shots," Brooks said. "I like to think of it in terms of the process of playing the game of golf. If I take the win-loss out of it, it was a lot of fun."
The Duke players having the most fun in Florida were sophomore Kathi Poppmeier and senior Tonya Blosser, who finished third and fourth, respectively, in the overall standings.
Junior Stephanie Sparks, who had led Duke in every tournament this season, shot 80-81 the first two rounds before settling down for a third-round 75 and an 11th-place finish overall.
With Sparks not playing her best golf and normal first-teamer Pam Soliman not making the trip, Brooks was pleased with the poise Poppmeier and Blosser displayed in leading the team.
"[Poppmeier's performance] was much-awaited," Brooks said of the Australia native. "I think we're only beginning to see what she can do. And Tonya's really starting to perform out there."
Going into Sunday's final round, Duke led the Demon Deacons by two strokes, but Wake played three shots better that day and won the tournament.
All but one Duke golfer -- Sparks -- shot her highest score of the weekend on Sunday.
But Wake's golfers had the same problems the Blue Devils had. Both the Deacons and Duke shot their worst team-score in the final round, as did more than half of the entire 21-team field, when the stakes were the highest.
Brooks attributed this unusual trend to the high volume of golfers that had to play Sunday and the accompanying delays.
"What we had was an ungodly amount of time between shots," Brooks said. "A few of my players were beginning to feel light-headed [because of the heat]."
After the third round was over, the Deacons were triumphant, but the Blue Devils get another shot at their nemesis next week at the ACCs.
"I know [Wake's] a good team and we'll have to play our best golf to beat them," Brooks said. "I think we will."
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