The Blue Devils were dominant in their home opener Saturday—but it took some time for them to get their footing.
Against William & Mary, No. 7 Duke overcame a sluggish start in doubles play, in which its No. 1 team of seniors Ellah Nze and Nadine Fahoum fell to Anik Cepeda and Hope Johnson. The Blue Devils won the doubles portion of the event, but the team was still taken aback by the early struggles to the Tribe.
“I was a little surprised [about the loss], but we didn’t play our best,” Fahoum said. “But you can’t really dwell on it, especially when you have singles play coming up.”
“I wasn’t happy after doubles,” head coach Jamie Ashworth added. “We talked before the match in doubles about being aggressive off the first ball, and not letting balls drop and hitting our serves, and I don’t think we did a very good job with that—but we adjusted in the singles.”
Adjust they did. After the underwhelming performance in doubles, Duke obliterated William & Mary in singles play. None of the six Blue Devils lost the first game they played. None would even lose a set.
Playing on court one, Fahoum overpowered her opponent, utilizing a blistering serve to beat Nina Vulovich. In her final game, Fahoum went up 40-0, got beat on a sneaky winner from Vulovich—a rarity from the Tribe player on Saturday—then came back to win her match on the next point. The win by Fahoum, a transfer from Old Dominion, was the 100th of her career.
Ashworth came away impressed with his top player, but the coach did acknowledge that her game still needs improvement.
“Nadine has done a really good job so far. I think she needs to work on being more disciplined on the court,” Ashworth said. “We’re trying to work on the trajectory of the ball, and not giving so many easy balls. She’s understanding that it takes a lot of work.”
Reka Zsilinszka was the next Blue Devil to take her match, topping Johnson, 6-0, 6-1, after the William & Mary player knocked an unforced error into the net.
The next four Tribe athletes fell in similarly quick succession. Elizabeth Plotkin, on court three, took down Marlen Mesgarzadeh, 6-0, 6-3. Then, Nze beat Cepeda, 6-2, 6-1, and Hanna Mar, on court six, dismantled a fiery, vocal opponent in Marivick Mamiit, 6-3, 6-0. Mar’s victory, which featured a dominating performance in the second set, came in front of perhaps the largest crowd of any during the dual match.
Rachel Kahan, on court five, was the last to finish. She beat her Tribe opponent, 6-2, 6-2.
Ashworth said after the match that the Blue Devils’ seedings were still a work in progress. Monica Gorny and Mary Clayton, who won their doubles match, 8-2, didn’t even play singles matches. The Blue Devils that did play in singles, which included two freshmen, could see their seedings change before any match, a potentially problematic situation.
According to Ashworth, though, it’s a good problem for Duke have.
“I’ve been here 14 years and this is by far the deepest team I have,” he said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.