After No. 4 Duke’s narrow victory against William & Mary last week dropped it two spots in the rankings, the squad needed a commanding win during the ITA Kick-off Weekend to get momentum back early in the spring.
The Blue Devils delivered, as they handled Louisville in its first home game of the year at Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. Duke made quick work of the Cardinals—winning the doubles point and their first three singles matches—to complete a 4-0 sweep.
“Louisville’s a good team,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “Getting the doubles point was big. We didn’t play very well at two doubles at all, but [Harris and Capra] had a good match, and we had a good comeback at three doubles after being down early. They kept their composure really well. We tried to use that to our advantage going into the singles.”
Senior Ester Goldfeld and sophomore Alyssa Smith dropped their doubles match 6-1 on court two to Louisville’s Choe Willietts and Olivia Boesing, but their teammates stepped up on courts one and three to capture the all-important doubles point.
Junior Beatrice Capra and freshman Samantha Harris defeated the Cardinal duo of Ariana Rodriguez and Manuela Velasquez 6-2 on court one, then redshirt senior Rachel Kahan and senior Annie Mulholland seized the doubles point for Duke by besting Elle Stokes and Ellie Gerlach 6-3. Capra and Harris won the first three games of the set and then held their serve to protect the lead and seal the win. The pair on court three won the last four games of the set after falling behind 2-3 and gave their team an early edge.
Singles play began with all six Blue Devils winning their first set. Capra was the first to finish her day, thoroughly handling Stokes to the tune of 6-1, 6-0 on court one. The junior was in control the entire match after a disappointing loss last week at William & Mary in the Blue Devils’ season opener.
“Today I came out just wanting to get better,” Capra said. “When I played at William & Mary, everyone came out a little nervous, especially me. I was shaking on court, but after that match, I felt like every match I play I want to improve on something and get better, so by the time ACC games start, I’ll be ready to go. Today, I just let myself play a little freer. I think I’m moving in the right direction.”
Capra is coming off of knee surgery and has not looked 100 percent yet, but did say that she is feeling “10 times better than last year”.
Mulholland continued where she left off in doubles and put Duke up 3-0 after a strong performance against Olivia Boesing on court five, winning 6-1, 6-2. The senior—like Capra—lost at William & Mary but rebounded strong Saturday against Louisville. She won the first three games in each set, then held serve to cruise to a carefree win.
Smith quickly finished the day for Duke, outlasting Louisville’s Willetts 6-3, 7-5 on court six. The sophomore finished both sets strong—winning four consecutive games in both sets to come back from being down 3-2 and 5-3. The sophomore also won last week at William & Mary.
On courts two and three, Duke’s Goldfeld and Kahan were on the verge of winning their unfinished matches, leading 6-1, 6-5 and 6-4, 5-4, respectively, when the match ended abruptly after Smith's victory. On court four, the highly touted freshman Harris was locked in a tight match against Jessie Lynn Paul, leading 7-6, 4-4. The Blue Devil took a dramatic 7-4 tiebreaker game to win the first set and the second set looked like it too could have been on its way to a tiebreaker.
Duke looked like a hungry team Saturday and additional evidence of its motivation is that the Blue Devils won every court they dropped to William & Mary last week. Duke fell on courts one and three in doubles and courts one and five in singles to the Tribe, but won all four against the Cardinals to build momentum heading into the ITA Kick-Off Weekend Championship Match.
The Blue Devils will take on Memphis Sunday at 1 p.m. looking to punch their ticket to the ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championship Feb. 6-9 in Charlottesville, Va and keep Saturday's momentum going.
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