Jackie Carleton had been in this position against Marianne Baker before.
After suffering a three-set loss to the Maryland junior in 2005, a defeat that gave the Terrapins a 4-3 victory over Duke, the senior found herself in the third set again against Baker with the team's dual match outcome riding on her racket.
In a high-tension ACC battle that featured many hotly contested calls and several verbal bouts between the competitors, Carlton pulled out a victory to give the No. 12 Blue Devils (12-5, 5-1 in the ACC) a gritty 4-3 victory over No. 37 Maryland (9-9, 2-4).
"There tends to be some controversy in my matches," Carleton said with a laugh. "I played that girl last year in the same position three all, and I lost it for the team. She's not one of my favorite people, so it actually helped me this year, it really fired me up. I stayed focused, but it gave me a little adrenaline rush to just pull through in the end."
Head coach Jamie Ashworth said the highly emotional nature of the match was a positive boost for his team, which started the match down 2-0. Several incidents involving controversial calls had raised tensions between several players.
"I'd rather have it stick to the tennis, but it pumped us up a little bit," Ashworth said. "We needed to have some kind of fight."
He added that such a tense atmosphere would have been unusual four or five years ago, but that the quality of the conference has ratcheted up the competitiveness of the dual matches lately.
Duke's victory over Maryland marked the first time the Blue Devils have won a match after dropping the doubles point this season. Daniela Bercek, Melissa Mang and Tara Iyer all won in straight sets while Jennifer Zika and Clelia Deltour lost their matches to set up Carleton's deciding contest against Baker.
"To win four singles matches is really good for us," Carleton said. "I feel like everybody's playing better, just physically, you know, using better strategy and tactics."
Both Ashworth and Carleton said they believed that the grit Duke displayed is reflective of a reinvigorated confidence. The Blue Devils dismantled No. 64 Boston College Saturday, 7-0.
"We know that we can play with the best of them," Carleton said. "We were in the beginning of the season, we had a little downfall, but I think for this last stretch we're just going to go hard and hopefully it'll be in our favor."
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