NORCROSS, Ga. - To many, single-elimination tournaments conjure up images of shocking upsets and nail-biting finishes. The woman's tennis team denied fans this type of drama, however, by steamrolling the competition this weekend en route to its tenth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference championship.
No. 3 Duke (22-3, 11-0 in the ACC) defeated No. 8 Wake Forest (19-6, 9-2) 5-2 Sunday afternoon at the Racquet Club of the South in Norcross, Ga. The match marked the third year in a row in which the Blue Devils and Demon Deacons competed in the finals of the ACC Championships. The path to the Deacs went through Tobacco Road for the Blue Devils, as Duke demolished N.C. State 5-0 and North Carolina 6-0 on Friday and Saturday to advance to the finals. With the tournament win, the Blue Devils set an all-time conference record for most consecutive league titles by any woman's sport.
"It feels great," sophomore Vanessa Webb said. "It's great to be a part of the team that won it for the tenth time in a row... I wasn't a part of eight of them, but it feels nice to be a part of the last two."
The tournament's Most Valuable Player award went to freshman Karin Miller. Playing at number two singles, Miller-ranked third nationally-went 3-0 and lost only three games. In Sunday's championship, she handily defeated Wake's Maggie Harris-who at No. 62 was the highest ranked player not wearing a Duke uniform-6-0, 6-0.
"[Being named MVP] is a real honor," Miller said. "I didn't know I was going to get it. I played really well today. I was really happy with the way I played."
Miller's win versus Wake, coupled with straight-set wins by Webb and senior Wendy Fix, gave the Blue Devils the early edge over the Demon Deacons. At singles 3-6, coach Jamie Ashworth started all four seniors-Luanne Spadea, Fix, Karen O' Sullivan, and Diana Spadea.
When both Spadeas impressively won their first sets, it seemed Duke would march on to another easy victory. However, Wake battled back, as Lule Aydin took the second set from Luanne 6-4. Diana jumped off to a 5-2 lead in her second set, but Annie Marie Milton forced the set into a tie-breaker. Down 5-2 in the tie-breaker, Spadea fought back to take a 6-5 lead, only to falter and lose the tie-breaker 8-6. The Spadeas' third sets ended in identical 7-5 losses.
O'Sullivan won her match after faltering early, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, giving the Blue Devils a 4-2 lead heading into doubles matches. The losses by the Spadeas were the first matches dropped by any Duke singles player or doubles tandem in the last six team matches.
"We played really well in singles today," Webb said. "We were focused and played well. We were ready for them."
For the first time in the tournament the Blue Devils were forced to play doubles, needing only one victory to clinch the match and the ACC title. With Webb and Miller struggling at No. 2 doubles, attention turned to courts one and three, where the teams of Luanne Spadea/O'Sullivan and Fix/Kristin Sanderson raced to win the clinching point. Fix and Sanderson were up 7-4 when the fifth-ranked team of Spadea and O'Sullivan won their match 8-3.
"That was just the final point that clinched the match for us," Spadea said. "Everyone played well and our win was just one of five."
Although Duke put on an impressive performance, the Blue Devils' victory is seen by most as simply the meeting of expectations. Coming into Atlanta, Duke boasted by far the most dominant team in the field. All six Blue Devil singles players were ranked nationally, while all other ACC teams combined have only four on the national charts, three of whom belonged to Wake Forest. Duke had the top four singles players and the top two doubles teams.
The Blue Devils now have a 90-match winning streak over ACC opponents and a tournament record of 34-2. Over the past four years Duke has outscored conference tournament opponents by a total score of 65-6.
Earlier in the tournament, this type of domination proved to be too much for N.C. State and North Carolina, as neither team had a ranked singles player or doubles tandem. During the two matches the Blue Devils did not drop a single set and nor lose more than four games in a set. Over the two day stretch before the title game Duke won 132 games and lost only 34.
In the opening round on Friday the Blue Devils faced the Wolfpack, who had defeated Virginia 5-3 in Thursday's play-in game. Dropping only 12 games the entire match, Duke emerged with an easy 5-0 victory. Webb's 6-4, 6-0 win at number one singles over Blair Sutton clinched the win for the Blue Devils.
Saturday, Duke continued its conquest of familiar foes by taking on arch-rival North Carolina. The Tar Heels were simply over-matched in a 6-0 defeat. Miller easily won 6-1, 6-0 and Fix's 6-3, 6-4 victory at No. 4 singles over Cena Hackler gave Duke the winning fifth point. Webb struggled a bit early, falling behind 4-3 in the first set, but soon emerged with a 6-4, 6-2 win.
"The confidence that our team possesses has shown," Ashworth said. "We go out there and from the very first point the other team knows its going to be tough. We're not going to give them anything."
The Blue Devils' confidence carried through Sunday's final. Although there were some tense moments and three matches went to three sets, Duke always believed it would win. Blue Devils will take the ACC title and a ten-match winning streak into the NCAA Tournament this May. For now, however, Duke-especially the seniors who finished their careers without ever losing a conference match-will savor this win.
"That's remarkable-ten years in a row," O'Sullivan said. "I'm proud to be a part of it, especially being a senior and having been involved in four years of that."
Luanne Spade added, "We're glad we can be a part of the tradition and we hope it continues."
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