CARY, N.C. — The 15th-ranked Blue Devils entered the ACC Championship seeking their 16th title in 18 years.
Even after a disappointing regular season, Duke cruised past N.C. State in the first round and looked ready to make another run for a conference crown.
But instead, the Blue Devils’ regular-season woes carried through to the postseason. For the first time in 18 years, Duke failed to reach the the finals of the conference tournament, losing to No. 12 Miami 4-3 in the quarterfinals Friday at the Cary Tennis Center.
The second-seeded Hurricanes (20-4, 11-2 in the ACC) prevented the seventh-seeded Blue Devils (15-10, 6-6) from reaching the championship match for only the third time in the history of the tournament.
“Physically we weren’t able to match [Miami’s] emotional level,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said.
In two previous matches with Miami this season, the Blue Devils had held the advantage after doubles play. The Hurricanes, however, took the opening point Friday, putting pressure on Duke’s injury-laden singles lineup.
Without the presence of No. 1 and No. 3 singles players, Katie Blaszak and Jennifer Zika, the Blue Devils struggled to compete with the intensity of the Miami squad.
“After every point, they were pumping their fists and high-fiving. Miami teams are known for that,” Ashworth said.
Playing at the top spot, Jackie Carleton looked poised to give the Blue Devils a needed boost in momentum as she squared off against the nation’s No. 1 player, Megan Bradley. Duke’s junior matched the big-serving Bradley shot-for-shot until late in the first set.
After a break of serve gave Bradley a 4-3 advantage, Carleton appeared to level the match at four when she called a Bradley forehand long on break point. The chair umpire, however, overruled Carleton, moving the game to deuce.
Frustrated with the umpire’s reversal, Carleton smacked a ball toward her opponent, a fellow UCLA transfer. The ball bounced over the back fence, causing Carleton to be penalized a point for unsportsmanlike conduct. She never recovered from the incident, and Bradley went on to win the game and the match 6-3, 6-1, giving Miami a 2-0 lead.
“She had the momentum,” Carleton said. “She just played big. I had to play at my best, and I couldn’t keep that level up the whole match.”
Senior Saras Arasu then brought Duke to within a point of Miami at 2-1 with a straight-set victory at No. 2 singles, but the Hurricanes had control of the overall match as they held a one-set lead in three of the four remaining matches.
As the team gathered to watch the final parings, Clelia Deltour missed three backhands that gave her harder-hitting opponent the edge in the final game. Physically outmatched by Miami’s 5-foot-8 Melissa Applebaum, Duke’s 5-foot-2 freshman then lost the final point, going down 6-3, 6-0.
Two minutes later, all hopes of a Blue Devil comeback were extinguished when Miami’s Emily Mowery hit a backhand by Parker Goyer as Goyer moved to the net. The shot completed Mowery’s 6-2, 6-1 victory and propelled Miami into the semifinals with a 4-1 win.
The Hurricanes would later use the same attitude they used to beat Duke to reach the finals where they lost 4-3 to top-seeded Georgia Tech.
“I don’t think the matchups were great for us,” Ashworth said. “That’s no excuse for how we played, but I think the lineup changes really helped them.”
The loss concluded Duke’s worst ACC campaign in 23 years of tennis at the University.
“The program will be back. We’ve got a lot of talent coming back next year, and hopefully everybody will be healthy,” Ashworth said.
The team will spend the next few weeks practicing doubles and trying to get healthy before the NCAA Championships begin in mid-May, Ashworth said. Although Zika may return to the lineup, Blaszak will remain on the sidelines because of back problems, effectively ending her career at Duke.
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