Despite jumping out of the gates with a head of steam, the Blue Devils could not hold on against one of the best teams in the country.
No. 23 Duke fell 4-1 to in-state rival No 1. North Carolina 4-1 Wednesday at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill, N.C. Unlike in previous matches, the Blue Devils could not clinch the win after capturing the doubles point.
The loss ended Duke’s three-match winning streak against the Tar Heels.
“North Carolina played really well today,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “I didn’t think we played poorly. In the spots that I thought we had some advantages, [North Carolina] played really well. They played big points well and they didn’t let losing doubles get to them. It probably motivated them more. [In] singles we had some opportunities. That’s disappointing, but hopefully we realize how good of a team we can be and take that into our last matches this weekend and in the upcoming tournament.”
To start off the match, the Blue Devils (14-8, 9-3 in the ACC) played their best doubles matches of the year and quickly seized all momentum against the Tar Heels (25-0, 13-0).
Duke’s third-seeded doubles team of senior Annie Mulholland and sophomore Chalena Scholl got things started for Duke with an 8-4 win against the nation’s 49th-ranked team in Ashley Dai and Kate Vialle. Duke's duo relied on strong service games and a pair of breaks to ultimately close out the match after Dai and Vialle evened the pro-set at 4-4.
Soon afterward, junior Beatrice Capra and freshman Samantha Harris clinched the doubles point for Duke at the No. 2 spot. The tandem—ranked 51st in the country—upset the No. 27 team of Hayley Carter and Whitney Kay 8-3.
“I was really proud of our doubles and the competitiveness we brought to our doubles,” Ashworth said. “It’s the best we played all year. We were able to play free and able to play with no pressure. That was great to see.”
But as well as they performed in doubles, the Blue Devils could not continue their dominant play as singles matches began.
The Tar Heels captured their first point when Dai defeated Mulholland 6-2, 7-5. The match remained tight until Dai won three straight games to take the first set. In the second set, as she has done in many of her matches this year, Mulholland fought back from down 3-0 to take a 4-3 advantage. But by the time she captured her first lead, the Portland, Ore., native did not have enough in the tank to close out the set.
At the No. 1 position, Capra could not compensate for Mulholland’s defeat as she trailed from start to finish in a 6-2, 6-4 defeat against North Carolina's Jamie Loeb, the country’s sixth-ranked singles player.
Duke suffered its third consecutive defeat as No. 25 Caroline Price upended No. 84 Harris. After dropping the first set 1-6, Harris elevated her level of play and intensity to win the second set 6-1 and even the match. In the final set, the freshman had opportunities while down 4-2 to even the match but could not convert, losing the next two games.
With North Carolina’s fourth and match-clinching win on the line, No. 37 Goldfeld put up a tremendous effort against the 15th-ranked Carter. But like her teammates, the Brooklyn, N.Y., native could not finish out the match strong, falling 4-6, 6-3, 1-6.
“[In] singles, we played a little more tentative and especially early in the single matches we couldn’t carry the momentum from winning the doubles point,” Ashworth said. "We did a good job of fighting back in some of the singles matches and pushing to three sets. It just felt like we put more pressure on the singles and we didn’t need to do that. We could have just played loose and free like we did in the doubles.”
The Blue Devils will try to rebound Friday when they welcome Wake Forest to Durham at 3 p.m. Although Duke remains in the top tier of the ACC standings behind North Carolina and Miami, a win against the Demon Deacons is crucial as postseason play is set to begin April 23 with the ACC tournament.
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