The Blue Devils began their national championship defense in a dominant fashion this past weekend, bouncing back from last month’s disappointing early exit in the ACC Tournament.
No. 10 Duke defeated Long Island 4-0 and knocked off Virginia 4-1 in the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament, respectively, in Charlottesville, Va.
The Blue Devils needed to regroup after falling to Florida State in the first round of the conference tournament April 23. Duke had blanked the Seminoles 4-0 just one week before in the regular season but dropped four straight singles matches the second time around, losing 4-2 and failing to capture a second straight ACC championship.
A layoff of three weeks allowed the Blue Devils to put that defeat behind them and enter the NCAA tournament with a renewed focus.
“We stumbled in the first round of ACC’s and had to figure out what went wrong,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “We talked about having to be competitive against each other in practice every day. We had to put ourselves in match situations. [The players] had to go at each other and use their teammates to get their sharpness back.”
These high-intensity practices paid off in the first round of the tournament last Friday, as Duke shut out Long Island and dropped only one game during the entire match. After the Blue Devils quickly picked up the doubles point, seniors Amanda Granson and Elizabeth Plotkin beat their opponents in unblemished straight sets at No. 4 and No. 2 singles, respectively.
Sophomore Monica Gorny was next off the court, giving Duke the win by picking up a 6-0, 6-1 victory at the No. 5 singles position. Virginia provided tougher competition for the Blue Devils Saturday, but the Cavaliers could not avenge the 5-2 loss that Duke dealt them in the regular season.
The Blue Devils got off to another superb start in doubles play, quieting the home crowd early on in the match. The No. 3 pair of Plotkin and junior Reka Zsilinszka raced out to a 6-1 lead after 20 minutes of play, ultimately winning 8-2 for the duo’s eighth straight victory. The No. 1 tandem of Granson and junior Ellah Nze locked up the doubles point for Duke soon after with an 8-3 result.
“All of the teams did a good job of communicating really well,” Ashworth said. “We did a good job isolating their weaker players on each team, and that’s something we’ve struggled with a lot—making them beat us.”
Nze kept the momentum going at No.1 singles, building a 4-1 lead in the first set that motivated the rest of the team, Ashworth said. Freshman Mary Clayton proceeded to make quick work of her opponent in straight sets at the No. 6 spot, staking Duke to a 2-0 lead.
After the Cavaliers drew within one point by picking up a win on court two, Nze finished off Lindsey Hardenbergh 6-2, 6-3. Hardenbergh beat Nze during the regular season, but the Blue Devils’ top player made some adjustments to turn the tables in the rematch. Nze gave Hardenbergh little to work with throughout the contest by forcing her to return shots with her forehand—her weaker stroke.
Granson sealed the victory over Virginia at the No. 4 slot, beating her competition in straight sets and racking up her team-best 31st win of the season.
Heading into the Sweet 16 against No. 7 UCLA Thursday at noon in Athens, Ga., Duke is certainly playing better than it was almost a month ago against Florida State. In addition to physical ability, team unity will be one of the deciding factors in determining whether or not the Blue Devils can make it back to the Final Four.
“I don’t think we had the best six players last year, but we were the best team,” Ashworth said. “I think this team is coming into that now, thinking that, ‘If I lose, then someone is going to be there to pick me up.’”
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