Northwestern sophomore Cristelle Grier had never lost a dual-meet singles match in her college career. That two-year streak ended Saturday when Blue Devil Amanda Johnson defeated the nation's No. 4 player in straight sets to lead Duke to a 4-2 victory.
"Amanda's win was huge," head coach Jamie Ashworth said. "That's her [Grier's] first loss in two years and Amanda hasn't been hitting the ball great. She always competes well, but she hasn't been hitting the ball great, so for her to get that win is huge for her confidence."
The rest of the No. 10 Blue Devil team was able to feed off Johnson's victory as they improved their record to 6-1 on the season. Seventh-ranked Wildcats dropped to 7-2.
In doubles, Duke won just one of its three matches. Johnson and sophomore Julia Smith lost their match 8-5 to the nation's top-ranked duo of Grier and Jessica Rush at the first position, and Tory Zawacki and Jennifer Zika were beaten by a score of 8-3 at No. 2. Duke's win came at the third slot as Saras Arasu and Kristin Cargill defeated Ruth Barnes and Andrea Young 8-2.
"We lost the doubles point again, but I thought we competed much better in doubles," Ashworth said.
Duke got off to a quick start in its singles matches. Although Smith lost her match 6-1, 6-1, Blue Devils Cargill and Arasu evened the match after recording victories of 6-3, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-3, respectively.
"Our goal when we lose the doubles point is to get a singles match quickly to neutralize it," Ashworth said. "We got two really quick."
Johnson then gave Duke its first lead of the day when she defeated Grier 7-5, 7-5 in the afternoon's marquee match up. After jumping out to early leads in both sets, Johnson had trouble holding serve because of the windy conditions. But, just as she did in the first set, she followed a service game loss with a break of her own fueled by superb returns.
"She [Johnson] gave up that lead and as soon as it got back to even anything can happen," Ashworth said. "That girl had momentum and she [Johnson] came right back and broke that girl's serve again. She returned really well."
Zawacki defeated her opponent in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, as she used her hard ground strokes to overpower Northwestern's Jamie Peisel. Then after the team had already clinched the victory, No. 64 Jennifer Zita fought back from a set down to upset 36th-ranked 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (8).
The win, the Blue Devils' 21st consecutive victory at home, helped the entire team build confidence.
"It's a great win," said Johnson. "We started [the season] off kind of shaky, we lost to Vanderbilt. Since then every match we've gotten better. This just proves we are good enough to be in the top-five again."
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