Duke Wins Shutout Victory Over No. 26 Virginia To Advance To Sweet 16

Saturday, May 13

Durham, N.C.

4 p.m.

Duke University

Virginia - Second Round

Duke Wins Shutout Victory Over No. 26 Virginia To Advance To Sweet 16

5/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? The No. 10 Duke women's tennis team is headed back to the NCAA Round of 16 at Stanford University after downing No. 26 Virginia, 4-0, in the second round at the Ambler Tennis Stadium Saturday. The Blue Devils won the doubles point and garnered dominant victories from the top three singles positions to claim the shutout and avenge a regular-season loss to Virginia. Duke improves to 19-7 on the year and 11-1 at home, while the Cavaliers end their season at 14-10.

“I think the loss to Virginia earlier in the season really motivated us today,” said head coach Jamie Ashworth. “We knew that loss knocked us our of a first-place seed in the ACC Tournament and winning the ACC regular-season championship, and there was so much to play for today.”

In Duke's March 25th loss to Virginia, the Cavaliers came away with thedoubles point after taking the matches at the top two flights, but Saturday Duke cruised through two doubles matches for the early one-point lead. At No. 2, senior Jackie Carleton and freshman Melissa Mang quickly put away Douglas Wink and Rachel Del Priore, 8-0. The match was just the second in which a Duke pair won 8-0 this year, and Carleton was a part of both of those, as she and junior Daniela Bercek shut out their Princeton opponent March 22.

The freshman tandem of Tara Iyer and Jessi Robinson followed Carleton and Mang on court three. After putting up a slim 4-3 lead over Lara Alexander and Amanda Rales, the pair pulled away, claiming the next four games to win 8-3. Thirty-third ranked Bercek and Jennifer Zika led No. 23 Kristen James and Lori Stern, 4-3, when Iyer and Robinson clinched the doubles point, causing the No. 1 match to be abandoned.

The Blue Devils produced a commanding lead in the first singles sets. At No. 1, fourth-ranked Bercek won five straight games before giving up one to No. 116 Wink. In retaliation, Bercek served up an ace that nicked the inside corner of the box to take the first set, 6-1. Soon after, No. 32 Carleton on court two, No. 71 Mang on court three and No. 88 Iyer on court four finished off their first sets with margins of 6-1, 6-1 and 6-2, respectively.

Bercek was up 4-0 in the second set by the time Robinson won her first, 6-3, against Rales, and as a trailing sophomore Clelia Deltour attempted a comeback at flight five, pulling to 6-5 from 4-5, Bercek gave Duke a 2-0 advantage by winning 6-1, 6-1 at the top position. Deltour ended up being outlasted in a tiebreaker, which Lindsey Pereira won 7-3, but the match would be over before a point was won in the second set on court five.

No. 32 Carleton, a senior who is on the best win streak of her career, posted her ninth straight win at No. 2 by winning six consecutive games in the second set for a 6-1, 6-0 score, improving her dual record this year to 19-3 and her overall to 27-9.

Following in order, No. 71 Mang upped her dual record to 21-3 with a 6-1, 6-2 win over James at No. 3. Mang, the 2006 Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year, clinched her fifth match of the year to end the match with a 4-0 Duke advantage. Up by one in the second set at 3-2, Mang won the next three games to seal the win.

No. 88 Iyer was up 6-2, 3-2 over Stern, and Jessi Robinson led 6-3, 3-2 against Rales when play was stopped. Virginia's Pereira held the tight lead over Deltour, 7-6 (3).

Since the NCAA instated the current format of the tournament in 2000 where teams play in first and second rounds at regional sites to advance to the Round of 16, held at the championship site, the Blue Devils made Sweet 16 appearances every year until 2005, when they were knocked out in the second round by conference rival North Carolina. Now, Duke will face the Tar Heels in the Sweet 16 Thursday in Palo Alto, Calif.

UNC edged ACC foe Wake Forest, 4-3, at the Tar Heels' Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center for the second-round win that would propel them to the Round of 16. The Tar Heels will be just the second ACC team Duke has ever faced in the Sweet 16. The Blue Devils defeated Clemson, 5-0, in the 1993 second round, advancing to the quarterfinal. Duke and North Carolina last met April 5 in Durham, when the Blue Devils pulled out a 4-3 win in a match that came down to the wire.

"It's nice to get to play new teams in the NCAA Tournament," said Ashworth, "but at the same time, we are very familiar with UNC, and I think that familiarity can help us. We had a really good match with them here this season, and hopefully we will again on Thursday."

Duke and North Carolina will face off at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Taube South courts at Stanford's Taube Tennis Center.

Doubles
1. Daniela Bercek/Jennifer Zika (D) led #23 Kristen James/Lori Stern (V), 4-3, dnf
2. Jackie Carleton/Melissa Mang (D) def. Douglas Wink/Rachel Del Priore (V), 8-0
3. Tara Iyer/Jessi Robinson (D) def. Amanda Rales/Lara Alexander (V), 8-3
Order: 2,3*

Singles
1. #4 Daniela Bercek (D) def. #116 Douglas Wink (V), 6-1, 6-1
2. Jackie Carleton (D) def. Rachel DelPriore (V), 6-1, 6-0
3. Melissa Mang (D) def. Kristen James (V), 6-1, 6-2
4. Tara Iyer (D) led Lori Stern (V), 6-2, 3-2
5. Lindsey Pereira (V) led Clelia Deltour (D), 7-6 (3)
6. Jessi Robinson (D) led Amanda Rales (V), 6-3, 3-2
Order: 1,2,3*

* indicates clinching match