After playing through a season plagued by injury, the 15th-ranked Duke women’s tennis team hoped to rebound by making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Blue Devils’ woes continued.
For the first time in 15 years, Duke (16-11) failed to reach the round of 16 as archrival No. 13 North Carolina (22-9) shut out the Blue Devils in the second round of the NCAA Tournament May 14 at the Tar Heels’ home court, Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.
“The loss is frustrating, especially with it being here,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “It was tough to play here knowing that there are going to be some teams in Athens, [Ga.], that we have beaten during the year. With what we were dealt with—injuries and people sitting out—it was a tough year.”
The Blue Devils opened the match with what Ashworth called their best performance of the year in doubles. Despite Duke’s intensity, North Carolina’s experienced doubles teams proved to be too much for the Blue Devils.
After trailing 3-2 early in their second-flight match, Clelia Deltour and Tory Zawacki rallied to go ahead 5-3 against the Tar Heels’ 40th-ranked duo of Sara Anundsen and Jenna Long. The Blue Devil pair then won three of the next four games to put Duke ahead early in the battle for the doubles point.
In No. 1 doubles, Kristin Cargill and Jackie Carleton came within two games of securing the match’s first point at 6-5, but eventually lost 8-6 to the nation’s No. 5 pairing of Kendall Cline and Aniela Mojzis.
North Carolina then clinched the early 1-0 lead by defeating the duo of Jennifer Zika and Parker Goyer 8-6 at the number three spot, as senior Saras Arasu sat on the sidelines with a sinus infection.
The loss marked the 14th time in the last 18 matches that Duke did not win the doubles point.
“We put up a good fight in doubles and I thought we actually had the momentum because the last time we played Carolina we got killed in doubles,” Cargill said.
The Tar Heels quickly increased their lead as the 41st-ranked Mojzis defeated 97th-ranked Carleton 6-3, 6-0, giving North Carolina a 2-0 advantage.
Playing in the third flight, Deltour was the next Blue Devil to fall. In a rematch against Long, who she beat in three sets in April 13, the freshman dropped eight of her ten games after leveling the match at four all in the first set.
Seconds later North Carolina closed out the match on court six where Zika went down in straight sets 6-2, 6-0. She was playing in only her second singles match since returning from a wrist injury that caused her to miss 11 consecutive matches during the season.
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