Women's tennis smashes Clemson, extends ACC winning streak to 97

Another day, another conference win for the women's tennis team. Ho hum.

Showing their trademark Atlantic Coast Conference domination, the second-ranked Blue Devils (17-3, 6-0 in the ACC) overpowered the Clemson Tigers yesterday, sweeping the singles matches en route to a 7-2 win at Duke Tennis Stadium. It was Duke's 97th consecutive victory over an ACC opponent.

Four of Duke's singles players lost a total of five games or fewer, as five players cruised to straight-set wins. The Tigers (6-10, 2-3) sported a lineup with no ranked singles players and were simply no match for the Blue Devils, whose first four spots are filled by ranked players, including No. 5 Vanessa Webb.

Losses for Duke came in the second and third doubles matches. At the No. 2 doubles spot, Kristin Sanderson and Megan Miller fell in a tight 9-7 contest. At the third spot, Kathy Sell and Brooke Siebel lost to Catherine Galvin and Devrin Carr, 8-4. Sell was coming off of a grueling 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 win over Carr at No. 5 singles.

"I'd like to say I wasn't tired," said Sell, who recorded her 26th singles victory of the season. "Maybe that had something to do with it, but I was ready to play. I wanted to be out there. Things got off to a slow start, and it makes it really difficult when I come off the court after playing a three-set match and my doubles partner hasn't played singles."

There have been many matches this season for Duke in which the Blue Devils have clinched the overall team match after the singles competition and subsequently suffered an attention letdown when doubles play begins. Such appeared to be the case against the Tigers, in which Duke didn't seem to have the intensity in doubles play which is characteristic of the Blue Devils' singles game. Coach Jamie Ashworth said this is becoming a concern if his team is to beat the nation's best.

"We need to work a lot on our doubles," Ashworth said. "If we're going to be the best team in the country-I mean, we're No. 2 right now, but if we're going to take that big step-then in these matches, we're going to have to concentrate and focus on what we're doing. In one of these matches, doubles is going to count, and you can't just turn it on and off. We need to understand that better."

Only three Duke doubles pairs-Siebel/Sell, Sanderson/Miller and second-ranked Webb/Karen Goldstein-have played more than six matches all season. Ashworth said he plans to shake up his lineups over the team's next few matches to "keep things fresh.... and get people excited about playing with different people again. You go through a season, and it gets too routine and too stale."