For the lone senior on the women's tennis team, yesterday's tennis match marked the last time she would play at Duke Tennis Stadium.
In the day's final singles match, all eyes were on Brooke Siebel, who was playing on court six in the final regular season singles match of her career.
While Siebel, who usually only plays doubles, took the first set 6-3, she couldn't pull out the win, losing the final two sets, 7-5, 6-4.
But despite a disappointing Senior Day for Siebel, the 12th-ranked Blue Devils (18-5, 7-1 in the ACC) went on to defeat No. 38 North Carolina (9-12, 2-5) 6-3 yesterday afternoon.
"I think that the team overall did a great job playing their last match," Siebel said. "I was happy that I was given an opportunity to play today and tried to play as well as I could. I was a little up and down in my games and that cost me the difference."
With the ACC Tournament a week away, coach Jamie Ashworth said his team is playing as well as they ever have.
"We played well," he said. "One thing we talked before the match is getting off to a good start. We were up 3-0 on five courts and you can't ask for anything better than that. We didn't get to
At No. 1 singles, junior Megan Miller dominated her opponent, 6-1, 6-1, while her classmate Kathy Sell posted the same numbers in a win on court three.
Katie Granson, meanwhile, saw her first action at No. 2, where she faced Tar Heel senior Jessica Zaganczyk. Dropping the first set 6-4, and starting the second set down by a game, she came back to take the second set 6-2 and then the third set 6-2.
"I was just really working on stepping up and hitting aggressively and when I did that, I won all the points pretty easily."
Ashworth explained the strategy changes he implemented with Granson at the end of her first set loss.
"We talked about moving up in the court, standing right on the baseline and trying to put someone in pressure or put someone in trouble that way. Visually, it makes the court look smaller for your opponent, and you're always on top of the ball and taking the ball early, not giving the opponent as much time to set up.
"I didn't know if she could, it's something that's she's not comfortable with. She did a great job with it, she was inside the baseline, controlling the points, moving forward, taking balls out of the air."
In doubles, Sell and Granson took an 8-0 decision at No. 3, while at No. 1 Miller and Hillary Adams took an 8-3 win. At No. 2, however, Siebel and Ioana Plesu fell 8-4 to their opponents. With the loss of Siebel's regular partner, Erica Biro, the duo was conspicuously at a disadvantage.
"She's struggling," Ashworth said of Biro. "That's the big question going into the ACC tournament. If we lose her, it separates our one doubles team and doesn't make us as deep in singles. So we'll find out, she's had a couple of mono[nucleosis] tests, chronic fatigue and that kind of stuff. She's missed four straight matches."
Biro aside, according to Ashworth, the team is ready for the ACC Championships next weekend.
"Katie Granson's playing her best tennis of the year right now, winning at two today," he said. "Kathy's playing more aggressive than she's played. Megan played really aggressive. All the way down the line, it's what we've been working towards, being aggressive, putting people in trouble and really curbing our mental areas.
"I am happy with the way we are playing."
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