For the women's tennis team, victories this weekend over ACC opponents Virginia and Maryland weren't that magical 118 and 119, but they were instrumental in getting the team back on the winning track after an emotionally draining loss earlier in the week to Wake Forest.
Over the weekend, the 13th-ranked Blue Devils (16-5, 5-1 in the ACC) took an easy 5-1 win Saturday over Virginia in Charlottesville before shutting down Maryland 5-0 yesterday in College Park.
"It was good to get away from Duke and have some fun with our team away from everything after losing to Wake Forest," coach Jamie Ashworth said. "Just regrouping ourselves and refocusing, getting ready for the ACCs next week, it was just good to get away."
Yesterday's match against the Terrapins (7-9, 1-5) was characterized more by scheduling and weather, which led to a shortened match, than by actual play. High winds forced the match inside, where the women's match had to share the six courts with the men's tennis match.
"Maryland has just been decimated by injuries all year," Ashworth said. "Going into the match, they only had five players. We started up the match 2-0 and it snowed up in Maryland, so we had to play indoors on three courts. We started the match playing Nos. 1, 3 and 5. We had decided that we were going to stop as soon as a team won, and so we won at 1, 3 and 5, so we were up 5-0 and stopped."
At No. 3, Kathy Sell was winning 5-2 against Catherine Valantin in the first set before the Terrapin forfeited after a leg injury. No. 6 was likewise a Duke win by default, while No. 2 and 4 singles weren't even played.
At No. 1 singles, 14th-ranked Megan Miller easily defeated Maryland's Delila Causevic, 6-0, 6-4. On the other end of the court, at No. 5, Prim Siripipat had a little harder time with her opponent, but pulled ahead in the first set to take the match 6-4, 6-3, which, with three default wins by Duke, gave the Blue Devils the win 5-0.
Saturday's match against the Cavaliers (11-8, 1-4) was a little more active. Although doubles were halted due to rain, they would not have made an impact as the Blue Devils took five of the six singles matches.
Duke had no problems at the top two spots, but Virginia took its only win of the day with a 7-5, 6-1 defeat over Hillary Adams at No. 3. At No. 4 and No. 5, Siripipat and Brooke Siebel won, but each needed three sets. Ioana Plesu was defeating Virginia's Kelly Weaver 5-2 at No. 6 before rain forced the Cavaliers to default that match to Duke.
"It was a good weekend," Ashworth said. "It was good to get through some quick, easy matches and get back into a competitive situation, to just keep building. We played well all weekend. We played without Erica [Biro] and Katie [Granson], so Brooke and Ioana both got some singles play in. That was good because you never know what's going to happen going into the tournament. With two matches left, everyone on the team's getting singles matches, which is really what you want in case anyone has to step in and be ready to go.
"I think the best thing for us was leaving here Friday afternoon. We were able to stop reading things in the newspapers and stop walking on campus and having people say, 'Oh, I heard about your streak ending and I heard about you guys losing,' and that kind of stuff and get away and just refocus as a team and just concentrate on things we need to work on without distractions."
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