Duke Advances To Finals of USTA/ITA National Indoors

Saturday, February 8

Madison, Wisc.

TBA

Duke University

California

Duke Advances To Finals of USTA/ITA National Indoors

2/8/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

Feb. 8, 2003

MADISON, WISC.- The Blue Devils hope the third time is the charm as the fourth-ranked Duke women's tennis team advanced to the finals of the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Saturday with a 4-1 victory over 10th-ranked California at the A.C. Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wisc.

Duke is making its third trip to the finals and is looking for its first USTA/ITA Indoor title, after the Blue Devils fell in the finals in 1998 to Stanford (5-3) and in 1999 to Florida (5-4).

In Saturday's match, Duke jumped out to a 1-0 advantage by taking the doubles point. The Blue Devil tandem of 11th-ranked Julie DeRoo/Amanda Johnson knocked off Jieun Jacobs/Jody Scheldt (8-2) at No. 2 and at No. 3 the 49th-ranked duo of Katie Granson/Julia Smith improved to 7-0 in dual match action with an 8-5 victory over Nicole Havlicek/Catherine Lynch. Duke's 13th-ranked team of Kelly McCain/Hillary Adams fell 8-5 to fourth-ranked Christina Fusano/Raquel Kops-Jones.

Duke used the momentum of winning the doubles point to get off to quick start in singles action with a 6-0, 7-5 win by 98th-ranked Granson over Scheldt at the sixth slot. California came back to cut the Blue Devil lead to 2-1 as 54th-ranked Jacobs knocked off 65th-ranked Smith (6-3, 6-3) at No. 4.

"Once again it was key for us to win the doubles point today," said Ashworth. "California always has very good doubles teams and in the past we've played them, we've lost the doubles point every time."

Then, Duke's top two singles players came up with key victories to clinch the 4-1 victory for the Blue Devils. Second-ranked McCain defeated 12th-ranked Kops-Jones (6-4, 6-4) and 15th-ranked Johnson downed 34th-ranked Fusano (6-3, 7-5) at the number one and two positions, respectively.

The other two singles matches were suspended after the match was clinched.

"Today was the first time all year we have taken the momentum after winning the doubles point and gotten off to a good start in singles. This was the biggest match we have played all year and it was good to see the team perform well under pressure."

The finals opponent for Duke (7-0) in 2003 is second-ranked Florida (6-0). The Blue Devils and Gators will battle on Sunday at 11:00 AM (CT).

"Florida is a great team and we've already had some great matches with them in individual tournaments this year," said Duke Head Coach Jamie Ashworth. "It should be a good match tomorrow. They've come in and won this tournament many times and Roland (Thornqvist) has done a great job there...We've had our opportunities in this tournament, but haven't been able to come through yet. It will be a big step for our program to get that first one (title)."


Duke	                California	         Winner	      Score

Doubles
1. McCain/Adams  (13)	Fusano/Kops-Jones (4)	  Cal 	      8-5
2. DeRoo/Johnson (11)	Jacobs/Scheldt	          Duke 	      8-2
3. Granson/Smith (49)	Havlicek/Lynch	          Duke 	      8-5

  Duke wins doubles point

Singles
1. Kelly McCain (2)	Raquel Kops-Jones (12)	  Duke 	      6-4, 6-4
2. Amanda Johnson (15)	Christina Fusano (34)	  Duke 	      6-3, 7-5*
3. Julie DeRoo (36)	Catherine Lynch (46)	  Suspended 	--
4. Julia Smith (65)	Jieun Jacobs (54)	  Cal 	      6-3, 6-3
5. Katie Blaszak (81)	Nicole Havlicek 	  Suspended 	 --
6.  Katie Granson (98)	Jody Scheldt	          Duke 	      6-0, 7-5

Order of finish (singles): 6, 4, 1, 2

Omni Hotels national ranking in parenthesis

* - clinched win

Records: No. 4 Duke 7-0; No. 10 California 4-1