Down 7-4 and facing a pair of match points, Jackie Carlton and Katie Blaszak battled back to force 16th-ranked Lindsay Martin and Katie McGaffigan of Wisconsin into a tiebreaker. After the Blue Devils took the lead in the tiebreaker, it was Martin and McGaffigan who regained the momentum to win the match 9-8.
“Katie and Jackie lost a really tough match tonight,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “The two bring a lot of emotion to the court. They were very resilient, and I’m proud of the way they played.”
This loss capped a tough day of qualifying at the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships for Duke. A pair of singles players also lost, leaving the Blue Devils with just one remaining competitor. Freshman Clelia Deltour and sophomore Jennifer Zika both lost their qualifying matches in straight sets.
Saras Arasu and Kristin Cargill fell in singles competition Monday, and the team of Cargill and Tory Zawacki lost in doubles play.
“I’m not disappointed with our performance,” Ashworth said. “Our results this year have been better than last year. It’s the top 35 in the country, so you can’t expect to have six wins.”
Deltour, coming off four consecutive wins in the prequalifying round that concluded Monday, had a difficult start to her day. Taking on No. 35 Emma Murphy of UC San Diego, Deltour lost the match in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. The Duke freshman went on to drop a consolation match to No. 87 Roberta Fessenko of Sacramento State 6-2, 6-4.
After receiving a bye into the qualifying round, No. 68 Zika also faced a tough opponent in her first contest. Playing No. 53 Maria Ivanov of Tulane, Zika lost 6-3, 6-4. Zika recovered later in the day, however, defeating San Diego’s Lauren Perl in a consolation match 6-1, 6-0.
Ashworth mixed his doubles parings for the tournament in search of the best combinations for later in the season. Consequently, Carlton and Blaszak played a match together for the first time Tuesday. Their play, Ashworth said, demonstrated that they could be an effective doubles combination in future matches.
No. 19 Carlton is the Blue Devils’ only remaining competitor in the tournament. The junior transfer from UCLA, Duke’s highest ranked player received a bye into the singles main draw. Coming off a Flight A singles consolation title at the William & Mary Invitational in late September, Carlton will play her first singles match Thursday.
Ashworth remains confident going into this weekend’s ITA Regional Championships at Wake Forest.
“This could be our most important tournament of the year,” Ashworth said. “And it’s nice to go into it after seeing the best players from all around the nation [at the Rivieria/ITA tournament].”
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