Duke women’s tennis welcomed familiar ACC in-state rivals this past weekend in Ambler Tennis Stadium. In her second top-10 match clincher, senior Ellie Coleman stepped up again to secure the victory for the Blue Devils against N.C. State, and sophomore transfer Eleana Yu stepped up to clinch in a tiebreaker for Duke on Sunday against Wake Forest. The Blue Devils remained undefeated in ACC play.
Friday vs. N.C. State
Besides 24 miles between the campuses, not much separated No.7 Duke from No. 10 N.C. State. Long after the sun had set over Ambler Tennis Stadium, illuminated by Friday night lights, a cold breeze ruffled through the fans and seats. The nerves around Ambler were palpable, as all the marbles would be claimed by the winner of Court 6’s final match: the Blue Devils’ Coleman against the Wolfpack’s Mia Slama.
However, Coleman looked as chill as the breeze. Dropping the first set to Slama and going down as much as 4-2 in the second, the Midland, Mich., native kept her composure, winning three straight games to lead 5-4 and then two of the next three to take the set and force a third.
“I’ve been in that situation a few times and know the feeling when I was down 4-2 in the second set,” Coleman said about her comeback victory. “I just have to stay out here for one more point, one more game, with my team, no matter what ends up happening.”
In that third set, Coleman’s experience kicked in. Previously against a top-10 opponent Michigan, the Blue Devils needed her to come through. And on her birthday, Coleman stepped up once again to take the cake for her team.
Down 3-2 in the set, the senior broke Slama and won the next game to reclaim the lead 4-3. Coleman would drop a deuce point — evening the set score at 4-4 — but immediately responded in the next game with an ace. After seeing that game through, Coleman faced another deuce point, and would not be denied a second time.
“I couldn’t have written the script any better myself,” Coleman said. “I love those moments. Those are the moments you live for. It took the whole team to get down to me at 3-3, and [I was] happy I was able to bring it home.”
Along with Coleman’s match, four of the other five extended into a third set. In those, each player that won the first set did not win the second.
Duke’s 12th-ranked Irina Balus faced 27th-ranked Michaela Laki. Starting down 3-2, Balus rallied confidently with incredible sequences — many of which were capped with down-the-line winners — to take the set 6-3. However, Laki found her groove, capitalizing on each of Balus’s mistakes and winning the next two sets dominantly 6-0, 6-2. Yu, also victorious in her first set 6-2, dropped the next set 6-1. The Mason, Ohio, native started the third set strong 2-0, but couldn’t keep her foot on the gas against Gabriella Broadfoot, losing 6-3.
“I told our team that N.C. State was tougher than we were,” said head coach Jamie Ashworth. “I thought we put ourselves in good positions, but when the match got tough, N.C. State was tougher.”
The exception was senior Emma Jackson, who cruised past the Wolfpack’s Maddy Zampardo 6-3, 6-4. When Zampardo approached the net in long rallies, Jackson was able to cleverly lob the ball for multiple winners. With this victory, the native of La Grange Park, Ill., extended her singles win streak to six games, including five in ACC play.
Shavit Kimchi and Liv Hovde started in first-set deficits of their own, but each managed to take the second set. Hovde kept every set competitive, but ultimately fell to Anna Zyryanova in the third set 6-4. Kimchi, on the other hand, lost her first set close 7-5, but then never looked back. The sophomore dominated the rest of the match 6-3, 6-1, capping off five straight wins.
The Blue Devils secured the doubles point lead by a commanding performance from the Hovde and Jackson pairing. Losing the first game, Hovde and Jackson steamrolled Kristina Paskauskas and Laki in the next six to win 6-1.
“They came out and didn’t make any unforced errors,” Ashworth said about Jackson and Hovde’s match. “They finished points at the net and really set the tone for the doubles matches.”
“It’s been fun to build a bond over the past month and progressively get better,” Jackson said about playing with Hovde. “We’re working towards being aggressive at the net and tonight was a great opportunity to show that.” - Andrew Negus
Sunday vs. Wake Forest
Give them an inch, give them a mile.
While the 4-0 win against the Demon Deacons might look at first glance like smooth sailing for Duke, Wake Forest put up a fight that pushed the Blue Devils to new levels of physicality Sunday afternoon. At a key moment, Yu clinched for the third time this season, resurging late in the second set to force a tiebreak, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).
Duke opened the match strong by winning the doubles point handily — it only dropped three games in the two clinching matches. Jackson and Hovde won their fifth consecutive match, 6-1, to move to 6-1 on the season. But the Blue Devils tapped the breaks in singles, allowing the Demon Deacons a foot in the door, as they forced five set tiebreaks on three different courts.
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“When you let good teams hang around, you never know what can happen,” Ashworth said. “They start to believe a little bit in themselves. They get a little confidence, and they can swing a little bit freer. And then you get tighter yourself. We can’t let teams do that.”
Wake Forest certainly hung around for longer than Duke was comfortable with.
Balus found herself down 1-3 in the first set on court one, but after a service break she won five games in a row to take the set 6-3. Tied 3-3 in the second set, Balus lost a key deuce point on a down-the-line forehand from Nevena Carton that the crowd, Balus and Ashworth were emphatic was out. Balus was able to force the set to a tiebreaker that went unfinished at 3-3 when the match was clinched.
Coleman provided the Blue Devils their simplest singles win of the day, as she cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win to put Duke up 2-0 overall. Jackson came next on court three. After slipping on a 3-0 lead, she won her first-set tiebreaker 8-6, before winning five games in a row to win the second 6-4 and put the home team one win away from clinching.
“We just have to be better at closing matches out, so that it doesn’t turn into a three-hour match. We have opportunities to make it a little bit quicker and a little bit smoother for us. If you see someone struggling, you got to step up your game and help them out in that way,” Ashworth said.
With Balus and Yu in a race to see who could complete their second set tiebreak faster, Yu finally put the Blue Devils out of their tiebreak misery. She cruised to a 4-1 lead in her first set before surrendering three games in a row, but eventually won the set 6-4. Roles were reversed in the second set as Yu was down 0-4 before surging back to tie it at 4-4 and force a tiebreaker. - Anna Newberry