#5 Duke Makes Incredible Comeback To Defeat #20 Notre Dame, 4-3

Friday, February 18

Notre Dame, Ind.

TBA

Duke University

Notre Dame

#5 Duke Makes Incredible Comeback To Defeat #20 Notre Dame, 4-3

2/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

Feb. 18, 2005

NOTRE DAME, IND.- In one of the most incredible comeback's in school history, the fifth-ranked Duke women's tennis team battled back from being down, 3-0, at 20th-ranked Notre Dame to defeat the Irish, 4-3, on Friday afternoon at the Eck Tennis Pavilion in Notre Dame, Ind. The Blue Devils improve to 6-1 on the season, while the Irish fall to 4-3.

"We talked about how we had to fight to the very end and if we fight the results will come," said Duke Head Coach Jamie Ashworth. "The four players remaining in the match tonight left everything they had on the court. We stole the match from Notre Dame becuase they had us beat at one point."

Notre Dame won the first point of the match as the Irish dominated the doubles competition winning all three matches with ease. It marked the first time this season the Blue Devils lost all three doubles contests. The second-ranked Notre Dame tandem of Catrina Thompson and Christian Thompson first defeated Kristin Cargill and Jennifer Zika, 8-2, at the top position. Then at the second slot, Brook Buck and Lauren Connelly downed Duke's Katie Blaszak and Tory Zawacki, 8-2, to clinch the doubles point for the Irish.

At the third position, the Irish closed out doubles play with an 8-5 victory by Sarah Jane Connelly and Kristina Stastny over Clelia Deltour and Parker Goyer. The loss for Duke's duo was the first in a dual match this season dropping them to 5-1.

Notre Dame continued to put the heat on the Blue Devils carrying the momentum into singles. The Irish increased their lead to 3-0 in the match very quickly as Liz Donohue knocked off Tory Zawacki, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 6 and 85th-ranked Brook Buck defeated 108th-ranked Jennifer Zika, 6-3, 6-0, at the second position.

The Blue Devils faced their largest deficit of the season with four singles matches remaining.

Deltour, a freshman from Savigny sur Orge, France, battled at the third slot against Christian Thompson. Thompson dominated most of the first set leading 3-0 and 5-3 at different times, but Deltour came back to win the first set, 7-6, as she won the tiebreaker, 7-3. The 5-2 lefty then cruised to a 6-2 win in the second set to cut the Notre Dame lead to 3-1.

"Wherever we have put Clelia in the lineup she has come through for us and she did it again tonight," said Ashworth.

At the top slot, Blaszak cruised to a 6-1 victory in the first set against Catrina Thompson, but Thompson would end up taking the second set, 7-6. One of the hottest players in collegiate tennis, Blaszak came back to control the third and final set, 6-2, to inch Duke back closer, 3-2. A product of Fairfax, Va., Blaszak improved to 7-0 in dual match play this season.

It looked like the Blue Devils were down and out with two matches remaining because both Saras Arasu and Cargill each lost their first set at the No. 4 and No. 5 slots, respectively. Cargill, a native of Atlanta, Ga., came out slow against Stastny and lost the first set, 6-1, but rebounded to win the second set, 6-4. After being down 3-2 in the third with a break point, Cargill closed out the match to even the score, 3-3, as she won the final set, 6-4.

"Kristin winning the second set was huge as she didn't play well in the first set," said Ashworth. "She didn't know the score of the match until the it was 5-4 in the her third set. That was good as she was able to focus on the match and the pressure wouldn't get to her."

The match came down to Arasu against Lauren Connelly. Connelly jumped out to an early advantage winning the first set, 6-3, but Arasu battled back to even the match with a 6-4 victory in the second set. A Tampa, Fla., native, Arasu jumped out to a 4-3 lead in the final set but Connelly rallied back to take a 5-4 lead. Arasu sent the match to a tiebreaker and was able to pull out a 7-3 victory to clinch Duke's sixth win of the season.

The Blue Devil foursome of Blaszak (7-0), Cargill (5-1), Deltour (6-1) and Arasu (4-0) improved to a combined 22-2 in dual match play this season. Duke will next travel to fourth-ranked Northwestern for an 10:00 a.m. (EST) match on Sunday in Evanston, Ill.

"Northwestern is a very good team and they are coming off a rough outing at the National Team Indoors," said Ashworth. "They are ranked higher than us, which will mark the first time this season we will be the underdog. It will be good for us as we will have nothing to lose. It should be a great environment for tennis."

#5 Duke 4, #20 Notre Dame 3

Singles
No. 1: #115 Katie Blaszak (DU) def. Catrina Thompson (ND), 6-1, 6-7, 6-2
No. 2: #85 Brook Buck (ND) def. #108 Jennifer Zika (DU) 6-3, 6-0
No. 3: Celia Deltour (DU) def. Christian Thompson (ND) 7-6, 6-2
No. 4: Saras Arasu (DU) def. Lauren Connelly (ND) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6
No. 5: Kristin Cargill (DU) def. Kristina Stastny (ND) 1-6, 6-4, 6-4
No. 6: Liz Donohue (ND) def. Tory Zawacki (DU) 6-1, 6-2
Order of Finish - 6, 2, 3, 1, 5, 4*

Doubles
No. 1: #2 Thompson/Thompson (ND) def. Cargill/Zika (DU) 8-2
No. 2: Buck/L. Connelly (ND) def. Blaszak/Zawacki (DU) 8-2
No. 3: S.J. Connelly/Stastny (ND) def. Deltour/Parker Goyer (DU) 8-5
Order of Finish - 1, 2*, 3

*clinching match

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