The Blue Devils will face their toughest match to date against a powerful North Carolina squad that will test their mettle heading into the ACC tournament.
No. 23 Duke will face the undefeated No. 1 Tar Heels at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill, N.C., Wednesday at 3 p.m. The Blue Devils are coming off two big wins against Florida State and Clemson after having their eight-game winning streak snapped with a two-game skid.
“[North Carolina is] in your face a lot with their energy. They’re pumping fists and getting excited," head coach Jamie Ashworth told GoDuke.com. "It doesn’t matter who their opponent is. They play the same every single match. When you do that, you have great results. It doesn’t matter who they’re playing. They play with the same intensity and the same focus."
North Carolina (24-0, 12-0 in the ACC) outlasted No. 12 Virginia 4-3 last week, and enters with its best players riding streaks of their own. Sophomore Jaime Loeb—the sixth-ranked singles player in the country—won her doubles match and then her singles match in straight sets to even the match after Virginia pulled ahead on court two. Rookie Cassandra Vasquez, who was inserted into the lineup in place of Ashley Dai, clinched the match with a 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) thriller.
The Tar Heels will be hard to bring down, as they have won 12 of their matches via shutout and own 10 victories against opponents currently ranked in the top 25. Loeb is joined in the top 25 by 15th-ranked Hayley Carter and 25th-ranked Caroline Price. Loeb has a 22-3 overall season record and has played at the top singles spot for most of the year. Price leads the Tar Heels in wins with 32, most of them coming on court three.
"We see each other so much. There’s not a lot of unfamiliarity between the two teams," Ashworth said. "We’ve had so many of our girls play so many different of their players, and vice versa, so a lot of our match tomorrow is just going to come down to confidence and belief.”
Against Clemson last weekend, the Blue Devils (14-7, 9-2) started slow, as Ashworth tinkered with the doubles lineup following the return of a healthy Chalena Scholl. The sophomore had been rehabbing an injury for most of the season, but she got her first wins of the year—an 8-7 (7-5) doubles win with senior Annie Mulholland and a 6-1, 6-4 victory against the Tigers' Daniela Ruiz.
Senior Ester Goldfeld also got back on track against Clemson with a straight-set victory after losing two of her past three singles matches heading into the weekend. The No. 37 player in the nation will look to lead Duke against a powerful North Carolina squad.
With only three matches left in the regular season, the Blue Devils have a chance to climb into the No. 2 slot in the ACC, currently sitting a half-game behind Miami. The Tar Heels only have Boston College remaining on their slate after they play Duke before the ACC tournament, making Wednesday's match a pivotal late-season contest for the Blue Devils if they hope to make up any ground on North Carolina.
Duke’s own firepower will come to play Wednesday, with Goldfeld—who reached 100 career wins earlier this season—leading the charge. Goldfeld, Mulholland, redshirt senior Rachel Kahan and freshman Samantha Harris have all recorded six or more wins in the Blue Devils' 11 conference matches this season.
With a stable of accomplished players and a deep bottom half of the roster, Duke feels ready to hand its in-state rival its first loss of the year.
"Our girls believe they can win. They’re not hoping they can win, they believe," Ashworth said. "When you have that, anything can happen. It’s like any other sport against North Carolina. The rankings don’t matter. It should be a good, tight match either way. It should be fun.”
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