Sophomore Ellah Nze hasn't dropped a singles contest in dual matches this year. She overcame the 28th and 32nd-ranked players last weekend at the National Team Indoor Championships, and in No. 6 Duke's Saturday matchup against No. 25 Texas A&M, a rematch with No. 1 Northwestern loomed just over the horizon.
But Nze was not about to let her guard down.
With Duke leading 3-1, Nze faced Morgan Frank across the net at the No. 2 spot. On match point, Nze found the deep, cross-court angle to claim the win, give Duke its fourth point and securing the team's eighth dual match victory of the season in Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. The margin would later balloon to a 6-1 final for Duke (8-1) in its first action since upsetting then-No. 4 Baylor last Sunday.
"This was a lot tougher match than the score showed," said Nze of the margin of victory. "[Frank] was really consistent. She had good disguise of her shots, so I couldn't really tell where she was going.. Before the match, I knew she was a great competitor, but I was glad to get through it."
Head coach Jamie Ashworth acknowledged that the team may not have fully expected the tough match they got out of the Aggies (3-3). But as the Blue Devils inch up the national rankings, they will increasingly take their opponents' best shot.
"What we're trying to get [the team] to understand is that if we're sixth in the country, everyone's going to play their best against us," Ashworth said. "We need to be prepared for that.. Ultimately, that's what's going to make us better in the long run."
Duke opened the day by taking the doubles point, which Texas A&M had dropped only once this year.
The tandem of senior Melissa Mang and junior Amanda Granson was quickly off the court after an 8-3 romp. Sophomores Nze and Reka Zsilinszka clinched the point with an 8-6 victory, leaving the No. 2 pair of Mallory Cecil and Jessi Robinson to finish out a rousing, come-from-behind win. Regrouping with the help of assistant coach Kelly McCain-Parker, they stormed back from 7-4 down to force a tiebreak. It was all Blue Devils from there, and Cecil smashed an overhead on the final point to cement the 7-0 tiebreak for the 9-8 win.
In singles action, Granson and Mang again posted solid victories and Zsilinszka remained undefeated in dual action. At the No. 1 spot, Cecil's final line of 6-3, 6-4 over Elze Potgieter disguised a tough battle in which the first, third and fifth games of the second set all went to multiple deuces. Up 5-4, Cecil went 40-15 down in the last game before taking four straight points to close out the day.
With the win, Duke is riding high on depth and confidence, both of which it hopes to carry into the weekend, when it has an opportunity not afforded to most teams: a second chance to take down Northwestern.
"We know exactly what to expect as far as each player, as far as [Northwestern's] doubles teams," Ashworth said. "We had nothing to lose last time, and we need to take that same attitude into our match with them Saturday. Not many times you get a chance to play the No. 1 team, play them close and get a shot at them again two weeks later. It's a great opportunity for our whole team."
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