As it turned out, No. 6 Duke needed only two weeks to reverse its result against the No. 1 team in the nation.
Fourteen days ago, senior captain Melissa Mang was the last Blue Devil on the court as Duke dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker to top-ranked Northwestern. On Saturday at Combe Tennis Center, Mang could only cheer as teammates Reka Zsilinszka, Mallory Cecil and Ellah Nze claimed points to hand No. 1 Northwestern a 4-3 loss, its first of the dual match season.
The Blue Devils (9-1) took the last three points of the match for the thrilling win on the Wildcats' home court. Like last time, this decision boiled down to game points. But Saturday, with the outcome of the match hanging in the balance, the crucial points went Duke's way.
It also could have been a simple matter of confidence that tipped the balance in the Blue Devils' favor.
"As a team, we were really trying to have confidence in each other and have confidence in ourselves," Mang said. "Coming so close last time really made us understand how good we are, and that we could beat them."
Unlike the teams' last meeting, Mang skipped the suspense as the first singles player off the court, dropping Nazlie Ghazal 6-4, 6-1. It wasn't the day's last match, but it may have been the most important one for the Blue Devils, head coach Jamie Ashworth said.
Even as Mang clinched her point convincingly at fifth singles, junior Amanda Granson and senior Jessi Robinson fell at No. 4 and No. 6, respectively. Since Northwestern (8-1) had taken the doubles point, Duke had to win the three remaining matches to pull off the upset.
The Blue Devils did not disappoint.
Zsilinszka did her part, dismissing Samantha Murray 6-1, 6-2, leaving Nze and Cecil remaining on the court.
Nze found herself in a suddenly tight contest at second singles. After demolishing Georgia Rose in a 6-0 first frame, Nze was narrowly edged in the second-set tiebreak and taken to a deciding set.
At the same time, Cecil faced Maria Mosolova, the country's top-ranked player, in a tough rematch of a three-set defeat two weeks earlier. The loss was the freshman's lone blemish on the season. This time, Cecil pulled back from a break down and wrenched the first-set tiebreak from Mosolova 8-6, but proceeded to drop a second-set tiebreak 7-3.
Two grueling sets into the match, Cecil found herself down two breaks in the third set to Mosolova. Undaunted, Cecil broke back just as she had in the first set, reeling off five straight games from 5-2 down and putting an exclamation point on the stunning 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (3-7), 7-5 upset.
"[Ellah's match] was really tight as well, and I figured, we worked so hard... I just refused to lose," Cecil said. "I started playing really consistent, going for my shots when I needed to. I just tried to play smart and play consistent. It was a really great ending-it was the two matches we needed."
Nze battled back from a break down in the final set against Rose to force a tiebreak. She reached match point at 6-5 in the tiebreak just as Cecil earned her own match point. Seconds after Cecil exacted revenge on Mosolova, Nze claimed the tiebreak and monumental victory for Duke with a 6-0, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-5) win.
"They're No. 1 in the country for a reason," Mang said. "They're tough at every position. The quality of tennis was the best I've ever seen in the four years I've been here.... We have so much talent, but to go out there and actually prove it-that's the biggest confidence booster for us. It'll really carry over for us for the rest of the season."
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