The Blue Devils continued their roll through the young season, taking down Illinois Saturday to remain undefeated.
No. 3 Duke (4-0) outclassed Illinois (4-1) at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend Saturday, 6-1, earning one of the 15 available automatic bids to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship.
The Blue Devils also defeated College of Charleston (0-2) 7-0 Friday.
“We hadn’t played back-to-back matches all year,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “In order for us to be successful this year... we have to be able to put together back-to-back matches.”
In doubles, Duke found itself trailing early on two courts. The team quickly responded, however, as Ester Goldfeld and Mary Clayton were able to get an 8-4 win that would be matched by Beatrice Capra and Rachel Kahan, earning the doubles point.
“I think everybody did a good job getting off to a good start, especially with getting the doubles point,” Capra said. “I think that pumped everybody up.”
The energy continued into singles play as Clayton defeated opponent Rachael White, 6-2, 6-0 in under an hour.
“One of our goals is always, if we get the doubles point, to get a quick singles match and not give the other team any confidence,” Ashworth said. “The momentum just carried from court to court.”
Capra soon followed with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Marisa Lambropoulos, clinching the third point for the Blue Devils.
“I’ve been trying to work on starting off the points really well, either attacking the second serve, and coming into the net closing off the points,” Capra said. “I thought I did that really well today.”
The victory did not come easy, as sophomore Hanna Mar found herself in a long and arduous battle with Allison Falkin. With Duke’s Rachel Kahan trailing in her match—and Goldfeld and Annie Mulholland struggling to hold off their opponents—the team relied on Mar to get the win. She did, finishing 6-2, 6-3 to end the match.
“With everybody having a lot of energy it really made it easier to play,” Mar said. “It got a little close at the end.”
Mulholland and Goldfeld both won their singles matches, while Kahan ultimately fell to Melissa Kopinski, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
“We need to know that we can win the long-term matches,” Ashworth said. “We have to know that we can win the tight matches.”
Duke has not given up more than one point in a match this season. The Blue Devils will look to continue that success Saturday when Northwestern comes to Durham.
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