Duke women’s tennis welcomed the two fiercest Big Ten rivals to Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center for Valentine’s Day weekend. After falling 4-3 to the 17th-ranked Buckeyes Friday, the Blue Devils rallied to take down the sixth-ranked Wolverines 4-3 Sunday at home.
Friday vs. Ohio State
In true Valentine’s Day spirit, it’s never over until it’s over. This was exactly the case for the Blue Devils against the Buckeyes, trailing in a 3-1 deficit and far behind in two of the final singles sets. The exception was sophomore Eleana Yu, who clinched a singles victory in two sets, extending the match. The Mason, Ohio, native has won her first three straight dual matches as a Blue Devil, and her result caused an immense shift in momentum for Duke.
Freshman No. 11 Irina Balus, despite winning the first set 6-4, found herself behind Ohio State’s No. 9 Luciana Perry 5-3 in the third set. However, in dramatic fashion, with breakpoint after breakpoint, the reigning ACC freshman of the week won four straight games — breaking Perry in the final — to win the third set 7-5, and even the match score 3-3. The Blue Devils forced pressure upon the last matchup between Duke’s Katie Codd and Ohio State’s Audrey Spencer. All eyes shifted to court six.
Codd, one of the four Blue Devils to win the first set, was also on the rocks in the third set. The junior from Carlsbad, Calif., trailed by as many as four games, but was fueled with tenacity and won three straight. After Spencer reached five games, Codd took another three straight and the Blue Devils, feeling all the love, captured the lead.
However, in tennis, “love” means nothing. And while the cardiac Blue Devils fought on and almost completed yet another miraculous comeback, Spencer forced a tiebreak and won, snatching the life out of Duke.
“Katie and Irina [did a great job] giving ourselves a chance,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said after the match. “I’m proud of that effort and of the fight, but we cannot let what happened in the middle of the match happen.”
The Blue Devils seemed to take their foot off the gas after taking four out of six first sets, as Yu was the only Blue Devil to win in the second set.
“I think that maybe we’ve been playing from behind so much that we relaxed a little bit,” Ashworth remarked. “[Ohio State] stayed committed to the end of the match. We shouldn’t have been in that situation.”
Despite the upset, a bright spot for the Blue Devils in Friday’s contest was a doubles point victory. Including the loss against Ohio State, the Blue Devils have won 61 out of the past 63 matches when winning the doubles point.
“It’s something we’ve really worked on since we last played,” Ashworth said. “On the execution level, I think we did a good job [with the doubles]. It’s good to see that it paid off.”
Duke has varied its doubles pairings throughout the season, and Ashworth seems to have found an answer to the early struggles. Balus and Coleman dropped the court one doubles match 6-4, but Ashworth’s new pairing of Shavit Kimchi and Ava Krug proved successful as the tandem, along with Yu and Emma Jackson, secured wins on courts two and three.
Sunday vs. Michigan
The Blue Devils kicked off with an impressive 6-1 doubles showing from partners Balus and Ellie Coleman on court one and a hard-fought 6-4 win from Kimchi and Krug on court two. Singles wins by Jackson and Kimchi, and losses from Balus, Yu and Codd set up a tied match score at 3-3. Players gathered to watch Coleman break Michigan’s Reese Miller for a nail biting 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 match win, securing Duke’s first-ever victory over the Wolverines.
“It was electric,” Coleman said. “This was just an awesome match all around, and obviously it came down to me, but it took the effort of the entire team to get it 3-3. I’m happy I was able to pull through.”
The senior Blue Devil started strong on court four, answering to a drop shot from Miller with a backhanded slice to move up to 1-0. Coleman’s solid performance continued throughout the first set and most of the second, but the long points and cramping took a toll on the Midland, Mich., native’s energy, resulting in a 7-6 loss in the second set.
The excitement surrounding court four amplified as Coleman battled through her third set. The bleachers broke out into call-and-response cheers, with the Blue Devils’ signature “Go Duke” overlapping with the Wolverines’ “Go Blue.” As their respective matches ended, both teams’ players gathered on neighboring courts and filled Sheffield with cries of encouragement.
Coleman broke Miller at 3-1, but Miller answered with a break of her own on Coleman’s next serve. However, the Blue Devil was unfazed and put away three straight games to win the set 6-2.
“The support was amazing from the team and the fans. We really just made it a tough place to play here in Sheffield,” Coleman said.
Duke also showed a strong double’s performance Sunday, an aspect that has been inconsistent for the Blue Devils this season.
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“We’ve spent a lot of time the last two weeks working on our doubles, and [it] showed this weekend,” Ashworth said. “We have to have a complete effort on all fronts.”
The new pairing of Kimchi and Krug continued to impress Sunday. After falling behind 2-0 in the first set, the Blue Devils responded by breaking Michigan’s serve to even the score at 2-2 before pulling ahead to 4-2. A few long balls and difficult returns at the net brought Michigan back up to speed at 4-4, but another broken serve put Duke up 5-4. In the final game, Kimchi hammered it wide to Miller for three returns before securing a powerful overhead that went untouched by Julia Fleigner. Krug then finished up the match with a strong serve for a 6-4 win.
Next up for the Blue Devils is a road trip up north as they will take on Boston College Feb. 21 and Syracuse Feb. 23.