A young Duke team opened its dual season in dominating fashion, first blowing out William and Mary and then Indiana at Ambler Tennis Stadium.
In the dual-match debut of three Blue Devil freshmen, No. 3 Duke (2-0) took down the Tribe 7-0 Friday night. Then, the Blue Devils downed the Hoosiers 6-1 Sunday afternoon.
Beatrice Capra, the No. 1 recruit in the nation last year and the seventh-ranked singles player in the country, has played against Maria Sharapova and been featured on ESPN, but she entered Friday’s contest with high nerves.
“I was just trying not to freak out during any of my matches,” Capra said.
The Duke freshman wasted no time making an impact against William and Mary (0-1), however. First, she clinched the doubles point with an 8-4 win, playing alongside sophomore Rachel Kahan. She then posted a 6-1, 6-1 victory over the Tribe’s Jeltje Loomans in No. 1 singles to put the Blue Devils up 4-0 and guarantee a win for the team.
Duke freshmen Monica Turewicz and Ester Goldfeld both took home singles victories without dropping a set as well.
“Our freshmen did great in their first match,” said sophomore Hanna Mar, the nation’s 38th-ranked singles player. “I think they were a little nervous before the start, but they handled everything really well.”
In the No. 3 singles match, Mar did not drop a game as she cruised to victory over Maria Belaya.
“[Hanna] can control points,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “It’s frustrating for an opponent because you can hit four great shots, and Hanna’s so fast, she runs them down and then you feel like ‘Oh I have to go for a better shot’ and you go for something you shouldn’t go for.”
As a whole, the Blue Devils made it difficult for their opponents to stay in the match by jumping ahead early.
In both the doubles and singles rounds, Duke players broke serve to start every single match.
“[During] doubles, I looked down and we were up 3-0 on every court,” Ashworth said. “So looking at that 9-0 [lead], it puts the other team in such a hole, and they begin to question what they’re doing, and singles was the same thing.”
Against Indiana (0-1), the Blue Devils maintained their perfect doubles record for the season by winning all three matches over the Hoosiers, but this time Duke required multiple comebacks. The No. 2 doubles team of junior Mary Clayton and freshman Ester Goldfeld faced a 4-6 deficit before winning 8-6, and the No. 3 team of Mar and senior Monica Gorny earned an 8-5 win after falling behind 2-4.
“I don’t think we had as much energy as we needed to have,” Ashworth said. “There are going to be matches where we’re the more talented team, but we have to play like it in all facets.”
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