Sportswrap is your one-stop shop for everything Duke athletics, where we’ll recap how each of Duke’s sports currently in competition performed over the last week and give a brief look ahead. Here’s our recap for the week of Feb. 26-March 2:
Men’s basketball
One week after its narrow, chaotic loss at Wake Forest, No. 10 Duke put its best foot forward Saturday evening by thrashing Virginia 73-48 at Cameron Indoor Stadium to close a 2-0 week. It was the Blue Devils’ second-straight 25-point win after Wednesday’s 84-59 win against Louisville. The story moving forward, though, is how Duke (23-6, 14-4 in the ACC) adjusts without Caleb Foster, whose lower-leg injury will keep him out of the lineup for the near future. He will stay sidelined as the Blue Devils head into the final week of the regular season one game behind first-place North Carolina, which comes to Durham for Saturday’s finale. Before that, Duke has to deal with N.C. State at 7 p.m. Monday in Raleigh. -Jonathan Levitan
Women’s basketball
Heading into the ACC tournament next week, Duke split its two games this week, prevailing Thursday against Virginia and then falling on the road Sunday afternoon to rival North Carolina. In the matchup with the Cavaliers, Kennedy Brown excelled on her senior night, going for 13 points and eight rebounds and helping propel the Blue Devils (19-10, 11-7) to a 73-54 victory. Things were not as favorable for Duke in Chapel Hill, as Deja Kelly and Alyssa Ustby handled business on their Senior Day and the Blue Devils got only two points from leading scorer Reigan Richardson. Up next, Duke plays Thursday evening in Greensboro, N.C., to open the postseason with the conference tournament, where it is listed as a No. 7-seed. -Caleb Dudley
Men’s lacrosse
Friday showers brought Sunday flowers for No. 1 Duke in a quick two-day turnaround weekend against a pair of Ivy League opponents. The Blue Devils (5-1) were battle-tested and ultimately overrun 14-12 in a soggy Koskinen Stadium Friday night against No. 17 Penn, struggling mightily to get the ball out of their own half or generate any consistent offensive momentum. Aidan Danenza’s fourth-quarter hat trick made things interesting, but the demoralizing defeat meant that Duke needed a response Sunday afternoon against No. 15 Princeton. The Blue Devils took that to heart and erased a quick two-goal deficit to burn the Tigers 17-8 by the final whistle, paced by graduate attackers Josh Zawada and Dyson Williams with nine combined goals. Up next, Duke makes a Saturday afternoon trip to Baltimore to play Loyola in another key nonconference matchup. -Andrew Long
Women’s lacrosse
Duke split the week with a 16-13 win Tuesday against Liberty and a 15-8 Saturday loss to Syracuse. Senior attacker Katie DeSimone and graduate attacker Caroline DeBellis ruled the day with five goals each against Liberty, but the squad lacked offensive firepower against the Orange, who scored six goals to open the game and never let their lead drop to less than five at any point thereafter. The Blue Devils (3-4, 0-2) couldn’t get possession off the draw and Syracuse punished them for it. DeSimone and DeBellis again led the team in scoring with two goals apiece, and it was DeSimone’s first game of the season without registering a hat trick. Duke will get another chance to notch its first ACC win when it welcomes Pittsburgh to Koskinen Stadium Saturday. -Audrey Davies
Baseball
Although No. 13 Duke’s unblemished record is no longer intact, the Blue Devils still put together a solid 3-1 week. Duke (10-1) destroyed Davidson 17-0 in a shortened seven-inning midweek bout, with graduate transfers Ben Miller, Zac Morris and Logan Bravo all hitting homers and graduate transfer Tim Noone throwing four scoreless innings. The Blue Devils then took the weekend series against Akron two games to one. Although Duke suffered a 4-3 loss Saturday to end its undefeated streak, a six-inning, 14-strikeout masterpiece from Friday starter and ace Jonathan Santucci and a 7-2 rubber match win Sunday highlighted the weekend. Next up, Duke has a pair of midweek home games against Appalachian State and Georgetown Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Then, the Blue Devils will head to Winston-Salem, N.C., for their weekend series in what is shaping up to be a heavyweight billing against No. 1 Wake Forest. -Elliott Jarnot
Softball
No. 4 Duke got its first taste of conference play in a quick three-game weekend series against Syracuse. Spearheaded by outstanding pitching performances from senior Jala Wright and sophomore Cassidy Curd, the Blue Devils (16-1) made it through all three games without conceding a run. The team would dominate in Saturday’s doubleheader, hanging 13 unanswered runs on the Orange. Seniors Claire Davidson and Francesca Frelick led the way on offense, logging five and four RBIs, respectively, to support the efforts of Curd and Wright. In the series finale Sunday, the bullpen exhibited a similar degree of dominance, with Wright and senior Lillie Walker combining to force another goose egg. Graduate student Gisele Tapia’s first-inning triple would be Duke’s only offense in game three, but it would be enough. The Blue Devils won the series 3-0, with scores of 7-0, 6-0, and 3-0. Up next for Duke is a midweek set against Elon and East Carolina before a weekend series against South Dakota State. -Luke Rinaldi
Men’s tennis
Conference play is freshly underway, and No. 11 Duke went into the weekend with an ACC win under its belt from the week prior. Returning to Durham, the Blue Devils (10-6, 2-1) took on two lesser-ranked teams in Clemson and Georgia Tech. The Friday contest with the Tigers was decided by a three-set battle at the No. 1 slot, where redshirt senior Garrett Johns clinched the victory for Duke in a nail-biting three-set victory. On Sunday, the Blue Devils moved outdoors for the first time this season, taking on the Yellow Jackets. But after narrowly grabbing the doubles point, Duke was swept in singles play for its first conference loss of the season. The Blue Devils will remain at home next weekend, with encounters against conference opponents Virginia Tech and Virginia Friday and Sunday, respectively. -Alex Sizemore
Women’s tennis
Coming off a rough weekend on the road where head coach Jamie Ashworth’s squad lost twice, once to Miami and once to Florida State, the 18th-ranked Blue Devils bounced back with a strong win, their first in the ACC, Friday against Syracuse. Freshman Shavit Kimchi was dominant in the No. 1 slot, winning 6-2, 6-2, while junior Emma Jackson, playing the No. 2, also won in straight sets. Jackson’s strong play continued into Saturday, winning another straight-set match as Duke (8-4, 2-2) decisively beat Boston College. Sophomore Katie Codd and graduate transfer Brianna Shvets also won in straight sets to give the home team a sweep before the rest of the matches unfolded. The Blue Devils now look ahead to more home ACC play, facing off against Clemson Friday and Georgia Tech two days later. -Vishwa Veeraswamy
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