William & Mary Outlasts Duke In Final Singles Match

Thursday, February 16

Williamsburg, Va.

5 p.m.

Duke University

William & Mary

Mang Named ACC Freshman Of Year, Three Blue Devils Tabbed All-Conference

William & Mary Outlasts Duke In Final Singles Match

2/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. ? For the second straight season, the women's tennis contest between William & Mary and Duke came down to the third set of the final singles match, ending with an upset by the No. 28 Tribe over the fifth-ranked Blue Devils, 4-3, at William & Mary. Duke was playing without its sixth-ranked singles player, Daniela Bercek, who has won every match so far this season at the No. 1 position.

Without Bercek, Kristin Cargill and Jackie Carleton took over the No. 1 doubles slot, falling to Megan Moulton-Levy and Katarina Zoricic, 8-3. But Duke's Melissa Mang and Jennifer Zika, ranked 41st in the nation, responded by defeating Megan Muth and Lauren Cash, 8-6, at court two. That put the fate of the team doubles point resting on court three, where Tara Iyer paired with Jessi Robinson. After W&M came back from a 6-1 deficit to knot the score at six apiece, the Tribe lost its service game to trail, 7-6, and the Duke tandem held on to win the match, 8-6, giving the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead in the team match. The win marked the sixth straight contest that Duke has claimed the doubles point this year.

With the score tied at 1-1 after W&M's Megan Muth posted a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 3 over Zika, Mang came up big for the Blue Devils, recovering from a 4-6 loss in the first set to put Cash away, 6-0, 6-4 at No. 4. The Tribe, however, quickly re-tied the score with a 6-3, 7-6 (6) win by Yang on court six over Robinson in the first of three tiebreakers on the day in singles play.

Moulton-Levy, the nation's 11th-ranked singles player, put W&M ahead, 3-2, as she gutted out a 7-6 (4), 6-2 win in the top match over the 27th-ranked Carleton. Moments later, however, the Blue Devils re-gained the momentum and knotted the score at three with a win on court five by Cargill over Fritz-Krockow, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

The contest on court two was all that remained, with a pair of freshmen left to decide the clinching match. W&M's Zoricic, ranked 50th in the nation, had dropped a close first set to Iyer, 7-5, but came back to decisively win the second, 6-2. Iyer appeared to have taken over in the third, winning the first three games and three of the first four, at one point serving for the team match with a 5-3, 40-15 advantage. Zoricic fended off the points and came back to take the game, then won her own service game to tie the set at five. Iyer held in the 11th and Zoricic did the same in the 12th to force the third-set tiebreker. Each player lost her serve twice within the first six points of the tie-breaker and Zoricic held a slim, 4-3 lead with two serves by Iyer coming up. However, the Duke player lost both of her service points to go down, 6-3, before Zoricic won on hers to win the set and the match, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (3).

The Blue Devils, who have played all six of their matches so far on the road, have a 10-day break before their next contest Feb. 26, when they open their home schedule against Northwestern at the Ambler Tennis Stadium.

No. 28 William and Mary 4, No. 5 Duke 3
Singles
1.    #11 Megan Moulton-Levy (W&M) d. #27 Jackie Carleton; 7-6 (4), 6-2
2.    #50 Katarina Zoricic (W&M) d. Tara Iyer; 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (3)
3.    Megan Muth (W&M) d. Jennifer Zika; 6-2, 6-4
4.    Melissa Mang (DU) d. Lauren Cash; 4-6, 6-0, 6-2
5.    Kristin Cargill (DU) d. Emmy Fritz-Krockow; 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
6.    Lingda Yang (W&M) d. Jessi Robinson; 6-3, 7-6 (6)
Order of finish: 3, 4, 6, 1, 5, 2*
Doubles
1.    Moulton-Levy/Zoricic (W&M) d. Cargill/Carleton; 8-3
2.    #41 Mang/Zika (DU) d. Cash/Muth; 8-6
3.    Iyer/Robinson (DU) d. Fritz-Krockow/Yang; 8-6
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3*

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