In her time at Duke, senior Chalena Scholl had never seen the Blue Devils topple Georgia Tech. The past three years saw Duke and the Yellow Jackets tied 3-3 before Georgia Tech won the match-deciding point each time.
But Scholl changed the story Sunday.
In her last-ever match in Ambler Tennis Stadium, the Pompano Beach, Fla., native stayed poised after losing the opening set in a tiebreaker, winning the second frame 6-2 then dominating again in the deciding set 6-2 to deliver a 4-3 comeback victory for No. 15 Duke against the No. 6 Yellow Jackets. Despite falling behind 3-1, the Blue Devils stormed back with wins from sophomores Kaitlyn McCarthy and Ellyse Hamlin to set the stage for Scholl’s late heroics.
After suffering its first ACC loss 5-2 Wednesday at No. 3 North Carolina, Duke blanked Louisville 7-0 at home Friday before handing Georgia Tech its first conference defeat in the regular-season finale Sunday. The Blue Devils earned a share of the conference regular-season championship and now enter the postseason with tremendous momentum after their first top-10 win of the year.
“[This weekend] was great,” Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “We started with a good match on Friday. It was important for us on Friday to be efficient and get off the court. We knew today was going to be a battle…. We knew coming in it was going to be a great match either way, win or lose.”
The Blue Devils (19-4, 13-1 in the ACC) opened their weekend stretch with a routine win against the Cardinals (14-11, 3-10). Duke’s tandem of Scholl and senior Alyssa Smith were quick off Court 5 with a 6-2 doubles victory, followed shortly by the No. 45 tandem of freshman Meible Chi and McCarthy. From there, the Blue Devils swept singles without losing a set to stay fresh for their third matchup in five days.
That energy proved crucial when Georgia Tech (23-3, 13-1) forced Duke to dig deep from the very start of the match.
The winners of 18 straight matches, the Yellow Jackets came up clutch in doubles with all three matches at 5-4 late in the sets. Paige Hourigan and Kenya Jones took down Chi and McCarthy 6-4, then Scholl and Smith fell to Johnnise Renaud and Rasheeda McAdoo to give the road team an early 1-0 edge.
“We got down early in doubles but we did a good job fighting our way back,” Ashworth said. “We didn’t play great doubles. We were a little tight and a little nervous.”
To make matters worse for the Blue Devils, Jones quickly translated her doubles success to the singles courts, dominating Smith 6-2, 6-0 on Court 5 to double her team’s lead.
No. 85 Samantha Harris got Duke on the board with an enormous upset on Court 1, ending a five-match losing streak by jumping out to a 4-0 lead on her way to a 6-3, 6-4 victory against No. 47 Rasheeda McAdoo. The Melbourne, Australia, native looked as healthy as she has all year, avoiding the errors that have hurt her earlier in the year to break a 4-4 tie in the second set.
“[Sam] is tough,” Ashworth said. “She hasn’t been able to practice as much as she has wanted because she’s trying to get through some injury stuff…. When she’s out here, she’s giving it everything she possibly can. It has been huge for her teammates to see that. It has given everyone a lift to know that she’s sacrificing her body for the good of our team and our program.”
The Yellow Jackets responded right away to come within a point of victory when No. 83 Renaud controlled her first set against 36th-ranked Chi 6-3, then roared back after falling behind 5-0 in a second-set tiebreak. Renaud won seven points in a row to stun Chi and momentarily quiet the home crowd.
But staring a fourth straight lopsided loss to a top-10 opponent in the face, Ashworth’s team responded.
Hamlin overcame a slow start on Court 6 to knock off Luca Fabian 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, winning the match’s final four points to re-energize the Blue Devils.
McCarthy was next off the court, completing the first perfect ACC slate in program history by defeating Nami Otsuka 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. The sophomore has been Duke’s most consistent player all season and never let Otsuka find momentum late.
All of a sudden, Duke and Georgia Tech were locked in another 3-3 battle.
“[The comeback] was great,” Ashworth said. “It’s all from the belief that we have that we’re never out of it, and that’s how we’ve played all year…. Whatever it takes to win, we’re going to do whatever we can possibly do.”
And for the third time this season, Scholl broke a 3-3 tie in her team’s favor.
The No. 56 player in the nation dropped the first-set 7-2 in a tiebreaker but rallied against 81st-ranked Hourigan, finding another gear to take control. With a rowdy crowd behind her, Scholl forced Hourigan into one last error on match point before Sheffield erupted and her teammates swarmed her.
“[This win] means a lot,” Scholl said. “Today was definitely a day we all wanted to come out on top and we all did a really great job of fighting and not giving up.”
By virtue of a three-team tiebreaker, North Carolina earned the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament with Duke’s victory, with the Blue Devils seeded second and Yellow Jackets slotted third for the conference tournament in Rome, Ga. Duke will play its quarterfinal Friday with a rematch against Georgia Tech possible in the semifinals Saturday.
“This week we have to recover and be as fresh as we possibly can for later in the week,” Ashworth said. “We need to understand that every time we go on the court, there’s no tomorrow without today. We have to play with this emotion and lay it on the line on the first match we play on Friday.”
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