Coming off back-to-back road losses against top-20, the Blue Devils had a full week to prepare for a Sunday home doubleheader. That practice time showed in a big way in two relatively stress-free sweeps.
The competition will feature the top 16 teams in the country and offers the Blue Devils (4-0) the chance to see how they stack up with the best teams in the nation.
For such a young squad, going on the road to face consecutive ranked opponents can be daunting, especially without its top singles player.
For the second straight Sunday, No. 10 Duke and No. 23 Northwestern were tied at three with all eyes on a competitive tiebreaker. Once again, the Blue Devils came out on top when junior Rebecca Smaller rallied from a 4-0 deficit in the second-set tiebreak to win 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) at the Sheffield Tennis Center.
Chi overcame a 5-2 deficit in a third set tiebreaker after a late three-set win by Smaller to help No. 10 Duke come back and defeat No. 25 Northwestern 4-3 in a four-hour, marathon match at Sheffield Tennis Center Sunday.
No. 25 Duke dominated Michigan State Friday night at home before pushing past the Rams Saturday night at Sheffield Tennis Center. Junior Nicolas Alvarez is still out for the Blue Devils, but coming off a loss at then-No. 15 Kentucky, Duke was able to get back on track on its home court.
After a rough weekend in Las Vegas earlier this month, Duke started the dual match season off on a high note on Wednesday.
Despite a strong start, the Wildcats had too much talent for a short-handed Duke team to overcome.
Following losses in two of three doubles matches, the Blue Devils came back to win six all singles matches Monday against Elon for a decisive 6-1 victory at the Sheffield Tennis Center in Duke's first home match of the year.
After a rough weekend on the West Coast, the Blue Devils still have plenty of work to do with the national team indoor championships less than a month away.
Chi won three matches at the ITA national indoor championships Thursday through Saturday to make a run to the prestigious tournament's semifinals.
The Blue Devils capped off their fall with a pair of titles this weekend
Aggressive play paid dividends for the Blue Devils in Chapel Hill this weekend.
Four Duke players combined for several singles and doubles wins across various draws at the Wolfpack Invite Friday through Sunday.
The Blue Devils found success this week at the Men's ITA Carolina Regional Tournament, which they will hope to continue at the Wolfpack Invite at N.C. State.
Although the Blue Devils’ only freshman continued her strong start to her college career, Duke came up short at the second tournament of its fall campaign.
Alvarez struggled in his first college event of 2016-17.
Two weeks ago, Alvarez capped off his trip to the international team tournament by clinching the final point against Venezuela in his hometown of Lima.
Several Blue Devils will compete at the biggest event of the fall this week.
The event featured several different brackets for individuals to play several matches each, and Chi won the Black singles draw by going 3-0 in singles.
