After a late season loss to Virginia cost the Blue Devils a shot at the ACC regular-season title, head coach Jamie Ashworth knew the women's tennis team would be ready the second time around.
Ashworth said little to motivate his squad before the match, knowing that Virginia's role as spoiler a few weeks ago would provide more than enough inspiration to pump up his players.
"We knew the girls wanted another shot at Virginia," Ashworth said. "We never really even talked about the situation being the second round of the NCAA tournament. We knew they would be motivated to play."
Whatever Duke used for motivation, it worked against the Cavaliers.
The Blue Devils (19-7) cruised to a 4-0 victory over Virginia (14-10) at Ambler Tennis Stadium Saturday to advance to the NCAA Championships round of 16 in Palo Alto, Calif. Duke will take on North Carolina today at 7 p.m.
Through the first two rounds of the tournament, Duke has not dropped a match in either doubles or singles competition. The Blue Devils easily rolled past Winthrop, 5-0, in the first round May 12.
Duke immediately jumped out to a commanding lead against the Cavaliers in doubles play.
Jackie Carleton and Melissa Mang pummeled Douglas Wink and Rachel Del Priore 8-0 at the No. 2 doubles position. Soon after, Tara Iyer and Jessi Robinson posted an 8-3 victory to secure the doubles point.
The Blue Devils were out-hustled in their regular-season loss to Virginia, but Ashworth said he could tell after doubles his team came to play Saturday.
"I felt like I could just see the drive that our team had yesterday when we came out in the doubles," Ashworth said. "Virginia was a little flat after we won the doubles."
Duke's dominance of the Cavaliers continued into singles play and No. 4 Daniela Bercek quickly picked up a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Wink at the No. 1 singles position. No. 32 Jackie Carleton followed Bercek with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Del Priore at the No. 2 spot to give the Blue Devils a 3-0 lead. Carleton has posted nine straight wins and has a 19-3 record in dual matches this year.
Melissa Mang sealed the match at the No. 3 singles position, capturing a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Kristen James to propel the Blue Devils into the round of 16, where they will face North Carolina Thursday at Stanford's Taube Tennis Center.
"Going into the singles our goal all year has been, 'win or lose the doubles, get a singles match quick,'" Ashworth said. "We got three of them."
Duke will again be seeking revenge when it faces the Tar Heels, who bounced the Blue Devils from the NCAA tournament last year in the round of 32. Duke defeated North Carolina earlier in the season in a tense 4-3 victory.
"To be eight miles away and play them two years in a row in the NCAA tournament is kind of an odd thing," Ashworth said. "I hope, kind of like that Virginia match, that the UNC match last year hopefully will motivate us a little bit too."
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