Duke has endured a difficult six-match stretch since the loss of Ester Goldfeld to a hand injury, leaving the team to compete with only five players.
The No. 11 Blue Devils continued their recent struggles, falling 4-3 to Maryland Friday at the Cole Tennis Courts, giving the Terrapins their first conference win of the season. After having to forfeit both a doubles and a singles match, the Blue Devils (14-8, 5-5 in the ACC) were at a disadvantage before play even began.
With the match tied at 3-3, the final point came down to court one, where junior Hanna Mar and Vroni Van Berlo fought it out in an exhausting three-setter. After dropping the first set 6-1, Mar rallied to a second set victory to send the match into the third and final set. Mar broke serve for a 4-3 lead and held to go up 5-3, but dropped four straight games to give Van Berlo the third set, 7-5, and Maryland (6-15, 1-10) the match.
“This was by far the toughest loss we’ve had,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “We can’t let a team like Maryland just hang around, and that’s what we did.”
Duke fell into a deep hole to start the match. After forfeiting the final position on the singles ladder and the third doubles slot, the Blue Devils dropped the doubles point to Maryland. On court one, the doubles team of senior captain Mary Clayton and Mar were tied with the Terrapins’ Van Berlo and Sarah Gealer 4-4, but were unable to hold serve and fell behind 7-5 before dropping the final game and giving Maryland the doubles point.
“In losing the doubles point, we gave them a little bit of confidence,” Ashworth said. “They started to believe that they could win and we started to get a little bit tight.”
In singles, the Blue Devils got off to a strong start. Sophomore Annie Mulholland demolished the Terrapins’ Olga Gaistruk 6-1, 6-1 on court three, putting the first point on the board for the Blue Devils.
Junior Marianne Jodoin soon followed with a 6-0, 6-1 victory against Nataliya Bredikhina, tying the match at 2-2.
On court five, senior Nicole Lipp was unable to slow Gabriela Srodowski, dropping a hard-fought first set 6-4, followed by a quick 6-1 second set.
Clayton claimed her 29th-career ACC singles victory after defeating Sarah Gealer 7-5, 6-1. The senior’s victory knotted the match at three before Mar fell and Duke suffered its third consecutive loss.
As the Blue Devils prepare for the upcoming ACC Tournament, Ashworth maintains that the team’s expectations have not changed and is confident that the girls will continue to persevere despite the situation.
“It’s been such a roller coaster,” Ashworth said. “This has been a season like I’ve never had here, but our girls are tougher because of it and I hope that they can look back and know that they’ve given all that they can during this regular season.”
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