On a chilly evening Tuesday at Ambler Stadium, Duke managed to outlast its toughest rival even as the sun went down.
The No. 7 Blue Devils (14-3, 7-2 in the ACC) defeated No. 15 North Carolina (14-7, 5-3), 5-2, in their final home match of the regular season. Duke finished off the Tar Heels while its top two singles players were still in the middle of their matches, and these final battles proved to be the most competitive of the afternoon.
Blue Devil freshman Ellah Nze downed her Tar Heel counterpart, sophomore Katrina Tsang, in a thrilling second-set tiebreaker to take the match, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6). Both sets featured multiple 40-40 ties and hard-hitting action, but, at times, Nze's most difficult challenge was focusing on the ball. Every time Tsang made contact, she let out a loud, cat-like hiss that could be heard throughout the stadium.
"Yesterday, when I heard her practicing, I was like 'Oh my god, this is going to be so annoying,'" Nze said. "But once you start playing, you tune it out and focus on the point."
Although Nze may have found a way to put her opponent's vocalizations aside, she found plenty of other sources of frustration. Down 3-4 in the first set with a 40-30 lead in the eight game, Nze yelled out in aggravation as she botched another opportunity to even the match. However, she was able to channel her anger and slammed the ball down to take the advantage. On the next point, her opponent hit it long, and Nze went on to take the first set.
In the second set, the two went back and forth until the score was knotted at six. The players continued trading points, but in the end Nze was victorious.
"I just try to concentrate one point at a time," Nze said. "I wanted to get the match done in two sets, so I buckled down and got through it."
Not only was the win a big one for Nze, but head coach Jamie Ashworth said the whole team will benefit from the narrow victory.
"We have struggled with tiebreakers all year," Ashworth said. "Hopefully, the rest of our team can feed off of that. To be able to walk away 5-2 is much better for us knowing that it was a much more decisive win."
Duke's top singles player, sophomore Tara Iyer, also had her match decided by a tiebreaker. After losing the first set, 3-6, she fought back to take the second, 6-4, to force a match-determining 10-point tiebreaker. That proved to be her last stand though, as she went on to lose, 10-6, to the nation's eighth-ranked player.
Both Reka Zsilinszka and Amanda Granson, third and fifth singles players, respectively, took their second set, 6-0. No. 17 Zsilinszka won her first set, 6-2, and Granson won hers, 6-3. Junior Melissa Mang also finished her fourth-singles match strong with a 6-4, 6-1 victory.
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