Only three Duke entries were required to play matches on the first day of competition at the ITA Southeast Regional Tournament. Of those three, only the doubles pair of Saras Arasu and Tory Zawacki advanced to the tournament, which will begin Friday in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Sophomore Parker Goyer hoped to qualify in the singles draw Thursday but lost a hard-fought battle to Sylwia Ziolkowska from East Tennessee State in three sets, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Doubles pair Lauren Archer and Clelia Deltour also fell to Ana Novaes and Ana Simanca of Winthrop 8-4. Three doubles pairs and eight singles players from Duke will play in the main draw.
“I hope that somebody steps up and has some really good results,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “Historically, we’ve had some really good luck in this tournament, and it hasn’t always been the number one player.”
The annual tournament attracts many teams from the region, which allows Duke to survey its local and conference competition for the coming year. Several ACC teams send players to the tournament, hosted by Wake Forest.
“We’ve always done a pretty good job [at the ITA],” Ashworth said. “As a team, it’s a good chance to make a statement.”
Julie DeRoo captured the tournament title in 2001, but since then, no Blue Devil has advanced past the quarterfinals in the singles draw. With five of its eight players seeded higher than 15th, Duke hopes to continue its success in the tournament with wins through the weekend.
Transfer junior Jackie Carleton, seeded fourth in the tournament, will face Paula Takahashi Friday at 9:30 a.m. in the round of 64. Also playing singles for Duke will be Katie Blaszak, Kristin Cargill, Jenny Zika, Arasu, Archer, Deltour and Zawacki.
The tournament will continue through Monday and winners will move on to the ITA Indoor Championships in November.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.