Upcoming Event: Women's Tennis at Kitty Harrison Invitational on September 12, 2025
Women's Tennis
at Kitty Harrison Invitational
Sunday, April 11
Durham, N.C.
TBA
Duke University
2
vs
5
Clemson
No. 16 Clemson Upsets No. 4 Duke, 5-2, In Women's Tennis
4/11/2004 1:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 11, 2004
DURHAM, N.C.-- In what was supposed to be a very happy senior day for the fourth-ranked Duke women's tennis team; 16th-ranked Clemson came into Durham and upset the Blue Devils to capture its first ACC Regular Season title since 1986 with a 5-2 victory over Duke at the Ambler Tennis Stadium.
Duke falls to 17-3 overall, 7-1 in the ACC, while Clemson improves to 19-3, 8-0. The Tigers clinched the top seed in next week's ACC Championship in Raleigh, N.C. The loss for the Blue Devils broke their 35-match ACC regular season win streak and spoiled senior day for three-time All-America Amanda Johnson.
Duke won the doubles point to kick off the match for the 15th time this season, which gave the Blue Devils the 1-0 advantage early. The Duke duo of Johnson and Saras Arasu posted an 8-5 victory over Julie Coin and Alix Lacelarie at the second slot. At the top position, Clemson's tandem of Daniela Alvarez and Maria Brito jumped out to a 7-4 lead, but Duke's Julia Smith and Tory Zawacki battled back to win the match, 9-7, to clinch the key doubles point.
At the third slot, Duke's duo of Katie Blaszak and Jennifer Zika took on Richele Lesaldo and Karen Rombouts and the match went down to a tiebreaker, with the Blue Devils winning 9-8 overall and 8-6 in the tiebreaker.
In singles play, Duke picked up a 6-1, 6-2 victory at the No. 5 position as 110th-ranked Arasu defeated Ioana Paun to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead.
Then, the momentum turned to Clemson as the Tigers won three matches in a span of 20 minutes to take a 3-2 lead. Clemson won 6-4, 6-2 at No.2 as 84th-ranked Alvarez knocked off Zawacki, won 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 at No. 4 as #114 Brito defeated Smith and picked up a 7-6, 6-1 win at No. 6 as Rombouts won over Blaszak.
It marked the first singles action for Duke's Blaszak on the year after missing the first seven and a half months with a shoulder injury.
Clemson closed out the match with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 victory at the No. 3 slot as Lacelarie upset 92nd-ranked Zika. The Tigers were up 4-2 with the No. 1 position remaining.
In a battle of two top-10 ranked players, ninth-ranked Johnson, a native of Bettendorf, Iowa, went up against eighth-ranked Coin of Clemson. Johnson was down early in the first set before come back to win 7-6, but Coin came back to win the second set 6-0. In the third set after the Tigers had clinched the team victory, it went to a tiebreaker after Johnson led 5-4. In the tiebreaker, Coin pulled out a 7-5 victory.
"We came out playing real good doubles and had some of the best wins of the year there," said Duke Head Coach Jamie Ashworth. "It was our fourth match over the last five days and conditioning could have caught up with us. You have to be ready to play four matches in four days during the NCAA Tournament so this was a good test for us this week to see what we need to do to get prepared."
Today's match marked the fourth contest over the last five days to close out the regular season. Duke will next play in the ACC Championship in Raleigh, N.C. on April 15-18.
No. 16 Clemson 5, No. 4 Duke 2Doubles 1. Tory Zawacki/Julia Smith (DU) d. Daniela Alvarez/Maria Brito (CU) 9-7 2. Amanda Johnson/Saras Arasu (DU) d. Julie Coin/Alix Lacelarie (CU) 8-5 3. Katie Blaszak/Jennifer Zika (DU) d. Richele Lesaldo/Karen Rombouts (CU) 9-8 (8-6) Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles 1. #8 Julie Coin (CU) d. #9 Amanda Johnson (DU) 6-7, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) 2. #84 Daniela Alvarez (CU) d. Tory Zawacki (DU) 6-4, 6-2 3. Alix Lacelarie (CU) d. #92 Jennifer Zika (DU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 4. #114 Maria Brito (CU) d. Julia Smith (DU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 5. #110 Saras Arasu (DU) d. Ioana Paun (CU) 6-1, 6-2 6. Katie Blaszak (DU) d. Karen Rombouts (CU) 7-6, 6-1 Order of finish: 5, 2, 4, 6, 3, 1
Players Mentioned
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