Struggling with injuries and illness, No. 18 Duke fell 5-2 to No. 19 Wake Forest at the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center Wednesday.
The Blue Devils (10-7, 5-4 in the ACC) lost the doubles point, as the Demon Deacons (13-6, 7-4) won two of three matches.
Freshman Amanda Granson and sophomore Jessi Robinson took out Sierra Poske and Christine Simpson 8-2 for the lone Duke win. Freshman Elizabeth Plotkin and senior Tory Zawacki lost 8-3 to Ana Jerman and Sasha Kulikova, and sophomore Melissa Mang and senior Daniela Bercek were upset by Ashlee Davis and Alexandra Hirsch 8-6.
Wake quickly picked up another two victories in singles play, as Bercek lost 6-1 to Hirsch and Granson fell 6-3, 6-1 to Kulikova.
Plotkin and Zawacki posted Duke's two singles wins. Zawacki defeated Poske 6-2, 7-6, while Plotkin came away with a 6-3, 6-2, win over Jerman.
"I played really well-I was really consistent and smart," Plotkin said. "With the rest of the team, we've just been really plagued by a lot of people being sick and injured, and I think that obviously affected us."
But the Blue Devils could not complete the comeback as Mang and senior Clelia Deltour were defeated to put the final score of 5-2 in Wake's favor.
"We had a couple close matches with Melissa and Clelia," Plotkin said. "We've been working so hard lately. Sooner or later things are going to come together."
The Blue Devils will take their game to N.C. State Friday and No. 11 North Carolina Saturday, when they hope to bounce back from the loss.
"Hopefully everyone will be healthy to play them because it's UNC," Plotkin said. "We hate playing them. We really want to win this year. We won both times last year when we played them."
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