Last year's season did not end the way the women's tennis team had imagined. Duke struggled through a spring filled with injuries and inconsistency.
The Blue Devils were seeded seventh in the ACC Championships-their worst seeding in 23 years-and lost in the quarterfinals to Miami.
Duke's luck was no better in the NCAA tournament, as the 15th-seeded team was ousted by archrival and 13th seed North Carolina in the second round. The defeat marked the first time in 15 years that the Blue Devils failed to advance to the round of 16.
"Not making it to the Sweet 16, that's basically unheard of for Duke tennis," senior Jackie Carleton said. "It's always your goal to at least give yourself a shot to make it to the championship final, and last year was just a hard year with injuries. Our team's chemistry wasn't as good as it could have been."
Last spring's disappointment weighed heavily on the minds of many of the Blue Devils during the summer, and head coach Jamie Ashworth said it has motivated his players as they prepare for their upcoming season, which begins Saturday at the William & Mary Invitational in Williamsburg, Va.
Freshmen Melissa Mang and Jessi Robinson and juniors Tory Zawacki and Kristin Cargill will represent Duke at the three-day event.
In addition to the injuries that kept junior Jennifer Zika, senior Julia Smith and 2005 graduate Katie Blaszak sidelined for portions of the spring, the Blue Devils were also plagued by poor doubles play.
The injuries forced Ashworth to try a number of different pairs, never finding the right combinations to solve the team's woes. Duke won the doubles point in just 10 of its 26 matches last season.
To help remedy the situation, Ashworth hired Stephanie Nickitas as the team's new assistant coach. As a player at Florida, Nickitas claimed back-to-back NCAA Doubles titles in 1996 and 1997 and was a finalist in 1998.
"Our assistant coach is very knowledgeable about doubles," Carleton said. "She knows about everything-position on the court, tactics."
Ashworth said to improve the team's doubles performances he has been emphasizing good communication, high first-serve percentages and high return percentages during the team's first 10 days of practice. He added that the Blue Devils' workouts have been much more productive than last season.
"In my mind it's the overall attitude-I think you can see the difference already," Ashworth said. "This team knows that it can be very good."
After Blaszak and Saras Arasu graduated in May, Duke welcomed three new freshmen and a UCLA transfer, Daniela Bercek, to its lineup. Bercek, who was a teammate of 2004 UCLA transfer Carleton, is currently ranked fifth in the ITA's preseason singles poll.
"In my mind we have enough talent singles-wise to have a really good year. We have to really focus on our doubles," Ashworth said. "We're going to use the first three tournaments [of the fall season] to try doubles teams, and we're going to use the last three tournaments to go with doubles teams that look good."
With no dual-matches until January, Ashworth said he has not yet given any serious thought to what positions his players will compete at in singles. But with renewed talent, the choice will not be easy.
"If it's not tough on me to make a lineup decision, then people aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing," Ashworth said. "Hopefully everyone has good results in the fall and come January 12th or 13th I have to struggle coming up with a lineup."
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