The No. 6 Blue Devils fell to Georgia Tech 4-0 and Clemson 4-1 this weekend in their first conference losses of the season.
Forced to compete with only five players after Ester Goldfield was forced to sit out the weekend’s matches with a hand injury, Duke (13-5, 4-2 in the ACC) forfeited one match of doubles play and a singles point to the Yellow Jackets (10-7, 4-3) Saturday. Marianne Jodoin and Annie Mulholland defeated Elizabeth Kilborn and Muriel Wacker 8-6 in the second doubles position, but Hanna Mar and Mary Clayton were not able to maintain their early lead, losing in a 7-3 tiebreaker to give Georgia Tech’s Megan Kurey and Kendal Woodard the set 9-8 and the doubles point.
Although Jodoin and Mar both took their first sets against Natasha Prokhnevska and Kilborn 6-1 and 7-5, respectively, they could not finish their matches before Nicole Lipp fell to Wacker 6-1, 6-0 and Clayton lost to Woodard 6-3, 6-2 to decide the match.
Despite the forfeited third doubles position, the Blue Devils were able to clinch the doubles point Sunday against the Tigers (10-6, 5-2) on senior day. Clayton was plagued with unforced errors in the first two games, but she and Mar were able to break serves of both Tristen Delwar and Yana Koroleva, winning three straight games to take the lead they would hold until the end of the match. Mar drove home a winner between Delwar and Koroleva to win 8-6 on Clayton’s serve. In the second doubles position, Jodoin and Mulholland played aggressively at the net but only traded games with Tigers Beatrice Gumulya and Romy Koelzer to trail 8-7. A decisive winner by Mulholland fought off match point and sent play into a tiebreaker, which Duke took 7-2 to clinch the doubles point.
Dewar quickly defeated Lipp on court five 6-0, 6-0 to give the Tigers a 2-1 advantage. Mar was not able to engage her dominant net play as Liz Jeukeng’s one-handed backhand kept her confined to the baseline, losing 6-3, 6-1. Jodoin and Mulholland both took their first sets against Koelzer and Gumulya before the match was decided by Clayton and Koroleva on court two.
Koroleva broke Clayton’s serve early in the first set to take a 3-1 lead, but Clayton took three straight games to win the first set 6-4. Clayton was unable to slow Koroleva in the next two sets and was forced to return from the corners against the 6-foot Russian, falling 6-0, 6-0 and giving Clemson the 4-1 win.
“She came off great in the start of the first set and the start of the second set and never really lost momentum. I couldn’t really do very much to change [that],” Clayton said.
The Blue Devils celebrated seniors Lipp and Clayton before the match began. Lipp, “the angel sent from women’s soccer” in the words of her teammates, was applauded for her attitude, support and valuable team spirit.
“It was equally special in a little different way,” said Lipp when asked to compare this to her first senior day with the women’s soccer team. “It was a lot of fun. It was a special day to share with Mary.”
Lipp said she is grateful for the opportunity to step in for the team and has enjoyed this challenging experience.
Clayton was honored Saturday with a place in the Duke Tennis Hall of Fame. She has led Duke to a 89-21 overall record and a 32-7 conference record during her four-year career. She is only the 21st Blue Devil to surpass the 100 career-win mark and looks to tie Monica Mraz and Kathy Sell for the third-most ACC singles wins in a season with a 28th victory on the road next week.
“We have good leadership with Mary,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “She’s handling the team just like I am, keeping everybody up and fighting and realizing that we still have a lot of things ahead of us to play for.”
Duke has wrapped up its home schedule and will face Florida State Friday and No. 10 Miami Sunday. Ashworth said the girls needed to stay focused on unity as a team.
“The adversity just keeps coming our way, and we just have to keep staying together and believing in each other, trusting each other and being ten people strong,” Ashworth said.
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