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Blue Devil Tennis Update With Head Coach Jamie Ashworth
11/26/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
DURHAM, N.C. - GoDuke.com recently caught up with Duke women's tennis head coach Jamie Ashworth. Ashworth discusses the Blue Devils' phenomenal fall season, ACC tennis, Duke's competitive dual match schedule, and much more, as the Blue Devils look forward to spring tennis.
GoDuke.com: Duke will head into the spring season following a very successful fall campaign. Can you talk a little bit about what you saw in the fall and what was different from the previous fall?
Jamie Ashworth: The biggest thing that we saw was a difference in our attitude. We really wanted to focus on building as a team and getting better as a team. One of our big goals was to try to establish a bond between coaches and players and let our players know that we care about them as people, not just tennis players.
GD: To what do you attribute the fall's successes?
JA: The success of our fall started towards the end of last spring. We wanted to make sure that the five people that were going to be returning knew that there was going to be a change in attitude, preparation and overall mindset of our program. I think the five of them took it to heart that they wanted to return our program to the upper echelon of college tennis. We had to have a commitment from the five of them before we could do anything. We knew that they would have passion if we as coaches challenged them and showed how much we wanted them to succeed.
GD: Do you see a lot of excitement from the team about the upcoming spring season?
JA: We have had a lot of success in the time I have been coaching here at Duke and I can honestly say I have never had a team that is excited about a season as this team is. They saw this fall that there are going to be a lot of opportunities that lie ahead and they have been working hard to take advantage when those opportunities arise.
GD: The Duke tennis community is a close-knit family. How do you see this year's team getting along and building up team chemistry? How important is team chemistry, especially on a small team?
JA: The team chemistry has been great. In college, tennis and team chemistry can be hard to have. Some girls come into our program having never been on a team if any sort; not soccer, not basketball, nothing. So, being on a team is a new thing for them. This group understands that they are out on the court to represent Duke and the entire Duke community and they are not just playing for themselves. On a small team as we have, team chemistry can make or break you. As long as the communication lines stay open and people trust one another then you can avoid a lot of the little problems that can come up.
GD: You hosted the Duke Invitational this November in Cary. Do you see that turning into a bigger, yearly event?
JA: We have never hosted anything like that before and I thought it was a good experience for our players to play some different teams than maybe we wouldn't normally play in the fall. To have a Pac 10 team like Oregon come out for the weekend, it gave us a chance to face different competition. We would definitely like to do it again and more importantly play it on our campus. We have some of the best facilities in the country and it would be great to host something like that here.
GD: Talk a little bit about the freshmen class of two that was rated the second-best in the nation. What specifically do Ellah Nze and Reka Zsilinszka each bring to the table?
JA: They have both been outstanding for us this fall. They compliment each other so well and have really brought a sense of confidence back into our program. They are both unbelievable competitors and are willing to do whatever it takes to win matches and help our team win matches. Ellah expects to win every time she walks on the court and is as determined of a player as we have ever had. Reka honestly is a nightmare to play against. She makes her opponents work so hard to win points that most are not willing to pay the price to beat her. I know we as coaches and all of their teammates are excited to watch them develop over their four years here.
GD: How do the freshmen compliment your returning players?
JA: Their personalities are both great. They know when to be serious at practice but both also know when it is time to laugh, smile, and have a good time. The biggest way they have complimented our team so far is through their confidence.
GD: Talk a little bit about Tara Iyer's return to Duke and what that addition will provide for the team. How will her experiences outside of Duke help her contribute to the team?
JA: We missed Tara last year and are excited to have her back. She has spent the last year working hard trying to develop her game. She fits right in with this group in that she loves to work hard and wants more than anything else to get better. Her confidence and her work ethic are both things that the other seven girls will feed off of.
GD: How important was the hiring of Kelly McCain-Parker? What advantages does the fact that she played at Duke give you and your team?
JA: Kelly was one of the most important hires I have had to make in my coaching career here at Duke. I wanted to hire someone that was not only knowledgeable on the court, but also would be vocal about what she believes. She is a great technician and a great strategist and had a lot of success as a player. Kelly understands the history and tradition of our program and was our number one player when we were ranked number one in country a few years ago. I knew this fall that one of our major goals would be to establish a winning culture and a winning attitude in our program and having experienced it as a player here, she was the perfect fit. I could not be happier with the decision that I made.
GD: Tory Zawacki returns as a fifth-year senior. How will her experiences over her first four years help the team?
JA: Tory has experienced a lot over her four years and has played a role in the successes we have had. The biggest thing that she can do is try to lead by her example. She has been through the battles in our conference and knows what to expect on a daily basis.
GD: Outside of Zawacki as the team's only senior, who will you look to for leadership this spring?
JA: For the first time in 12 years we decided to have a captain on our team and in the spring the players voted to name Melissa Mang our captain. She has been a great fit for this role and has shown that she is willing to do anything for our program. With this group that we have, all of them can lead in different ways, even the two freshmen.
GD: Throughout the fall, a lot of the players faced top-ranked opponents and will continue to do so throughout the spring, in and out of conference play. How do you think that prepares them, especially the younger players, for the strong competition they will face in the spring?
JA: As a team we faced more ranked opponents this fall than we have in any fall that I can remember. This team needed to know that it can compete with not only the best players in the country but also the best teams in the country. We had a doubles team in Melissa Mang and Amanda Granson beat both the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked players in the country. We had one of our freshmen, Ellah Nze, set a collegiate tennis record in beating two former NCAA champions in the same day; that was the first time anyone in college tennis had ever done that. The best preparation for us for the spring was to try and play the best competition this fall. In talking to everyone on our team now that the fall is over, we have a great deal of confidence because of that high level of competition.
GD: Your dual match schedule for 2008 is typical of the Duke program in terms of facing tough competition. The schedule features 11 teams who were ranked in the top 25 in the 2007 final ITA rankings, and six of those teams were ranked in the top 10. Can you talk a little bit about the schedule, why you elect to play such elite programs in the regular season and how that will prepare this team for the post-season?
JA: Our schedule is unbelievably tough, but I do think this team is up to the challenge. If we are going to reach all of our goals we need to compete with the best teams on a daily basis. I have always felt that the tougher the regular season schedule we play, the more we will be prepared come NCAA Tournament time.
GD: Including Duke, seven of the 12 ACC teams were ranked in the top 25 at season's end in 2007, and Georgia Tech is the reigning NCAA Champion. How beneficial is it for your team to compete in such a strong conference?
JA: When I first started at Duke the ACC was third or fourth in terms of overall strength in women's tennis across the country. In the last few years we are now the premier conference not only to play in, but also to coach in. Every day we have to be prepared to play a tough match and every day our team knows that they are going to face great competition. There will be nothing that prepares us better for the NCAA Tournament than both the ACC schedule and the ACC Tournament.
GD: Do you see the conference shaping up to be just as competitive this year as it has been in past years? What do you attribute that to?
JA: It is going to be even better this year than last year. I attribute a lot of it to the dedication that other ACC schools have put into women's tennis. I see it in the facilities, the support staffs, and especially the coaches. We have a great group of coaches right now and all want to keep the ACC the toughest conference in the country.
GD: The 2008 schedule features 12 home matches. Talk about home-court advantage and how important it is to defend your home courts?
JA: It is going to be great having 12 home matches. Hopefully we can get the Duke and Durham communities behind our program and generate some interest in women's tennis. I know our team loves to play in front of a crowd and we have a great product to come out and watch. Defending our home courts is something that we always talk about. We want to make Duke the toughest place to play in the country and hopefully we are on our way to doing that. If we take care of what we need to in the regular season then we will have the opportunity to play the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at home. If teams know it is a tough place to play and see that we have done a great job defending our home court throughout the year, we will have a mental edge in those two matches. Plus, we want to give the people at Duke and those in the Durham community something exciting and something fun to watch. People will support a winner.
Duke will begin its spring campaign at the Michigan Invitational, which will take place in Ann Arbor on Jan. 11-13. The Blue Devils will then travel to Bloomington, Ind., to take on Indiana for their first dual match of the 2008 season (Jan. 27) and will host Iowa on Feb. 2 in the home-opener.
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