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DURHAM, N.C. - The fourth-ranked and fifth-seeded Duke women's tennis team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 4-0 thumping of University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) on Friday at the Ambler Tennis Stadium in Durham, N.C.
Duke (24-4) advances to play Penn (15-5) on Saturday at 4:00 PM for the right to advance to the NCAA Championships at Stanford on May 16-19.
In doubles action, the Blue Devils jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead as Duke picked up victories at the number one and two positions. The 26th-ranked duo of Hillary Adams/Kelly McCain knocked off Anita Pushpanathan/Jana Karaskova, 8-1, and the Blue Devil tandem of Julie DeRoo/Saras Arasu defeated Tia Kaasalainen/Lana Khvalina, 8-0. Blue Devil junior Prim Siripipat (Mexico, Mo.) saw her first action of the season at the number three doubles position, but the match was not completed. She has been recovering from knee and shoulder injuries during the season.
Duke dominated singles action from the beginning as fifth-ranked McCain defeated Anita Pushpanathan , 6-1, 6-0, at the top position in only 45 minutes to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 advantage. Granson, a junior from Bethlehem, Pa., downed Aimee Lim, 6-0, 6-0, and senior Ioana Plesu (Saint-Foy, Quebec, Canada) registered a 6-1, 6-0 win over Kaasalainen to clinch the match. Friday's match for Plesu marked the first NCAA Tournament action of her four-year career.
UMBC concludes the season with a 19-6 record. Duke played the match without 23rd-ranked Amanda Johnson, who is recovering from mononucleosis. She is not expected to play in the match on Sunday.
Singles
1.#5 Kelly McCain (Duke) def. Anita Pushpanathan (UMBC) 6-1, 6-0
2.#35 Julie DeRoo (Duke) vs. Jana Karaskova (UMBC) DNF
3. Ioana Plesu (Duke) def. Tia Kaasalainen (UMBC) 6-1, 6-0
4. #63 Saras Arasu (Duke) vs. Lana Khvalina (UMBC) DNF
5. Katie Granson (Duke) def. Aimee Lim (UMBC) 6-0, 6-0
6. Hillary Adams (Duke) vs. Kathryn Wheatley (UMBC) DNF
Doubles
1. #26 Hillary Adams/Kelly McCain (Duke) def. Anita Pushpanathan/Jana Karaskova (UMBC) 8-1
2. Julie DeRoo/Saras Arasu (Duke) def. Tia Kaasalainen/Lana Khvalina (UMBC) 8-0
3. Katie Granson/Prim Siripipat (Duke) vs. Kathryn Wheatley/Aimee Lim (UMBC) DNF
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Post Match Quotes
Duke's Kelly McCain
On having a three week break from competition: "It felt really good to take those three weeks off and relax and come back out. It was kind of a step forward."
"I think that we are a lot stronger team, so today was kind of a stepping stone to what we really want to accomplish at the end."
Duke Head Coach Jamie Ashworth
On Penn: "They make you earn your points. That's good and that's what we need. They make you fight for everything and they make you play disciplined tennis. I think that they way that they play, we're going to have to earn our points every time. We're not going to get a lot of free points."
On today's match: "We got off to a good start. We won all the games fairly easily. I think in a match like that where we are the better team on paper, we are the better team if we give them nothing to feed off of and no confidence right away, and then we're going to be fine. I think we did a good job with that."
On playing again after the three week break: "It's good because Penn is good and we're going to have to be match-tough. I don't think that with the three week break you don't have the match pressure, so it's good to get out there and hit balls where you have umpires on the court. You know you're the better player, but you have to still execute the shots."
UMBC Head Coach Keith Puryear
"We were very realistic coming down. We knew Duke and they are number five in the country. We had some goals that we set for ourselves as a team. One of them was to get here. Another was to come down and show up and play hard and do the things we needed to do to be competitive and not worry too much about Duke. Those were our goals and I thought we accomplished them."
"The next step for us, because we've got a fairly young team, is to build upon this experience so that we can be a better team next year and hopefully make it here again."
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Pennsylvania Advances To Second Round With 4-0 Victory Over Richmond
DURHAM, N.C. - The Pennsylvania women's tennis team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday with a 4-0 victory over Richmond at the Ambler Tennis Stadium on the campus of Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Pennsylvania kicked off doubles action by taking the number one and two spots to take a 1-0 lead. The Quakers notched a 8-4 victory by Sanela Kunovac/Rachel Shweyk over Vanessa Bagnato/Lindsay Cox of Richmond at the top slot. Pennsylvania's duo of Alice Pirsu/Shelah Chao also knocked off Jeannette Cluskey/Patty Devlin, 8-4, to take the doubles point.
The singles action was much like doubles as Pennsylvania got off to fast starts in all six matches. The Quakers took a 2-0 lead after Chao defeated Richmond's Courtney Klein, 6-0, 6-1 in only 52 minutes. Pennsylvania then took the number one position as 24th-ranked Pirsu downed Cluskey (6-2, 6-2) and the number four slot as Raluca Ciulei knocked off Casey Cohen 6-2, 6-3 to record the 4-0 team victory.
The Quakers improve to 15-5, while Richmond concludes its season with a 12-10 record. Pennsylvania will play the winner of fifth-seeded Duke vs. UMBC on Saturday at 4:00 PM.
Singles
1. #24 Alice Pirsu (Penn) def. Jeannette Cluskey (Rich) 6-2, 6-2
2. Sanela Kunovac (Penn) def. Vanessa Bagnato (Rich) DNF
3. Nicole Ptak (Penn) def. Lindsay Cox (Rich) DNF
4. Raluca Ciulei (Penn) def. Casey Cohen (Rich) 6-2, 6-3
5. Shelah Chao (Penn) def. Courtney Klein (Rich) 6-0, 6-1
6. Michelle Yeh (Penn) def. Patty Devlin (Rich) DNF
Doubles
1. Sanela Kunovac/Rachel Shweky (Penn) def. Vanessa Bagnato/Lindsay Cox (Rich) 8-4
2. Alice Pirsu/Shelah Chao (Penn) def. Jeannette Cluskey/Patty Devlin (Rich) 8-4
3. Raluca Ciulei/Nicole Ptak (Penn) vs. Courtney Klein/Monika Peets (Rich) DNF
Post Match Quotes
Penn's Shelah Chou
"I was hitting the balls pretty strongly. I started out keeping the ball in play for awhile, and it just all went well. My serves were going in. I think my game was pretty solid."
Penn's Head Coach Michael Dowd
"We got off to a great start today. We were a little nervous coming in, not having a match in two weeks, but we got out there and played just like we were in the middle of the season. We played very tough in the beginning."
"Shelah Chao, who got off to a great start, just lost one game. From the beginning she just focused on every point, and she had the intensity. When people can see that type of intensity, it rolls throughout the rest of the lineup."
Richmond's Mark Wesselink
"We love being in the tournament. It's a first-class operation here at Duke, and we're just happy to be here. We're very impressed with the Penn team today. They just played great tennis, and after the layoff that all of us have had, for them to come out tough right off the bat--they put us on our heels early. I can't say enough good things about them."
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