Facing its most important week of the season, with matches against third-ranked Wake Forest and eighth-ranked North Carolina, the women's tennis team knows that it will need to play its collective best in order to come away successful.
Although the Blue Devils will need to receive the bulk of their points from their six singles players, winning the doubles point will be crucial, as it will give one squad the motivation and momentum needed to get through an entire team match.
That fact bodes well for Duke's three doubles teams, all of which have gelled since being put together by coach Jamie Ashworth before the team's March 10 match against Pepperdine. The benefits of this revamping have been considerable: Before the match against the Wave, Duke had only won the doubles point in five of the nine matches it had played, hardly an impressive figure for a team ranked consistently in the top five nationally.
But since the reconfigured teams debuted, the Blue Devils have only lost the doubles point once in 12 matches, which leads Ashworth and his players to believe that the team has finally found three cohesive pairs that will constantly defeat their opponents.
"We feel like we should, not could, win the doubles point," he said.
The most successful doubles team Ashworth put together is the combination of junior Katie Granson and freshman Susie Abromeit at the No. 3 spot. The duo has gone undefeated since being paired and has hardly even faced a difficult challenge.
The veteran Granson provides solid experience to the doubles team, while the newcomer Abromeit brings an intimidating service game to her opponents.
"[Granson] does a good job of keeping Susie in check," Ashworth said. "Susie has the bigger serve of the two, so she sets up Katie pretty well with her first serve. Katie can really get people in trouble in doubles--she's more of a finisher. When you have a combination like that where someone sets up and someone finishes, you're going to have a lot of success.'
For Abromeit, the opportunity to play with Granson--who the freshman lists as one of her best friends at Duke--has been a rewarding one, especially since she has not been able to crack the team's competitive singles lineup. She uses her enviable position as an impetus to succeed, even when her team has been in trouble, a rarity given the overwhelming success of the Abromeit/Granson team.
'There are definitely times that both of us are really frustrated and angry, but we really have an understanding for each other and we really have a way of calming each other down,' Abromeit said. 'I think we get really motivated on the court--that's what we're all about.'
The No. 2 doubles team of Amanda Johnson and Julie DeRoo has also proven to be a cohesive unit. The tandem has won all of its matches except for a slip-up against No. 3 Florida's second-seeded team of Alexis Gordon and Julia Scaringe, and most of their victories have come in convincing fashion. While Abromeit and Granson complement each other well with their differing strengths, Johnson and DeRoo have bonded because of their different mental approaches to the game. The even-keeled DeRoo serves as a reassuring influence to Johnson, who admits to being somewhat erratic during her matches.
'I think Julie and I have really good chemistry. Every match we've played we've done better,' Johnson said. 'She's stays calm, which is good, because I can get really frustrated and impatient. She stays calm, and it makes me stay calm. We've had some tough situations in doubles where we've been down and we've come back.'
The only newly paired doubles team to face multiple losses is the No. 1 team of freshman Kelly McCain and junior Hillary Adams. The duo has gone a modest 7-5 since they were placed together, but their three most recent losses came by a margin of two games or less, signaling a trend of improvement.
'We've spent a lot of time working on that [team],' Ashworth said. '[McCain and Adams] have lost a lot of close matches. They've lost 9-8 or 9-7 a bunch of times, but they haven't really been blown out, which is a good thing. When they play boring doubles they do well, but when they run into some problems when they start playing fancy.'
Catherine Sullivan contributed to this story.
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