On Sunday evening in Chapel Hill, the finals match of the singles draw in the ITA regional championships never happened. Instead, the two finalists, Duke’s Eleana Yu and Irina Balus, agreed not to play and both advanced on to sectionals.
The championship was the highlight of strong performances from the entirety of head coach Jamie Ashworth’s squad over the weekend, one which saw three Blue Devils in the semifinals and four in the quarterfinals.
For Yu, Sunday’s semifinal was the culmination of a dominant weekend of tennis. The Stanford transfer lost just one set all weekend, including a victory in straight sets over the preseason No. 26-ranked player Carson Tanguilig. Balus was similarly impressive over her matches. The freshman from Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, also conceded just one set through her five matches, with her semifinal victory coming over fellow Blue Devil Shavit Kimchi.
Duke had three top 50 players in the ITA preseason rankings, so the introduction of two more high powered singles players will be crucial come spring time for a team that could not quite come out on top against the elites of the ACC last season.
Ashworth was especially proud of the way in which Yu and Balus handled the stress points, something the team often struggled with last year.
“I thought that they both played the big points really well all weekend. When the points were big and they needed to, they played really mature points and played really smart tennis,” Ashworth said. “It was good to see something that we've been talking about with everybody.”
He was also sure to note that the presence of the newcomers has been positive for morale. With star returners like Kimchi and Senior Emma Jackson, a star transfer and freshman like Yu and Balus could certainly cause tension in the locker room. Instead, the two, along with freshman Ava Krug, have been spark plugs for Duke this fall.
“It's a good mix with some newcomers, some older roles. And we have a lot to look forward to. I know that as a team, they were excited for each other, and their result this weekend, which was great to see,” Ashworth said. “There's not a lot of selfishness on this team. They're supportive and they want to see their teammates succeed.”
Following the singles championship, Monday afternoon saw the championship in the doubles draw, this time a matchup between Duke’s Ellie Coleman and Balus against crosstown rivals Tanguilig and Susanna Maltby from North Carolina. This time around, Ashworth’s side struggled more in those big points, and it was an all too familiar result for his players against the Tar Heels.
Coleman and Balus were competitive throughout the match, even opening the first set with a break of service and having a chance to close it out later on. But, they were never able to put Tanguilig and Maltby away. The match ended two sets to none (7-5, 7-5) in North Carolina’s favor. For Ashworth, however, this was a chance to test out potential doubles pairs for the spring season.
“We were up early in the first [set]. I think that we let some opportunities slip, and we had some chances to really get up in that first set. I know it's the first time that these two have played together, with Ellie and Irina. I think that they're still trying to understand each other's games,” Ashworth said. “They're still trying to understand where each other are going to move, and what to do with serve and volleys. It's one of the reasons why we change our partners. We're trying to find the best combinations for when it comes to our spring season and they had some good results.”
While some of the players are looking forward to the NCAA individual championships in November and there are more ITA tournaments coming up this fall, Ashworth’s focus remains on the upcoming spring season.
“I think that we're progressing how we want to be for the fall. We’re learning to play pressure points better. We're learning to play different situations better. It's all building for the spring,” Ashworth said. “I know that the girls have some thoughts about the NCAA individual tournament in November, but I think it's all part of our long term goal of when we take the court in January.”
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