Duke Women Advance With a 6-1 Win Over Brown

Sunday, January 30

Durham, N.C.

10:00 AM

Duke University

Brown

Five Blue Devils to Play in Riviera/ITA Championships

Duke Women Advance With a 6-1 Win Over Brown

1/30/2011 2:42:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – The No. 7 Duke women's tennis team came out strong in its first match of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, defeating Brown 6-1 in the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.

“I thought we did a really good job in doubles of coming out and playing aggressive,” said women's head coach Jamie Ashworth. “Anytime you win the doubles point it's great to get a quick win in singles. We wanted to put some pressure on them early on and I think we did that. Brown is one of the best coached teams in the country and they competed really well and fought back.”

The Blue Devils opened the day strong as they took the doubles point with wins on courts two and three. On court two Mary Clayton and Monica Gorny continued their stellar doubles play, rolling over Misia Krasowski and Cassandra Herzberg 8-2 to improve to 3-0 this season.

The No. 34 doubles pair of Reka Zsilinszka and Hanna Mar teamed up for the first time this season to close the doubles point for Duke with an 8-2 rout over Ariel Caldwell and Julie Franzer. The court one doubles match wasn't finished with the doubles point having already been decided.

Duke carried the momentum from doubles into singles, winning the first set in all six matches. Freshman Rachel Kahan picked up the second point of the day for the Blue Devils at the No. 4 spot with a straight set victory 6-0, 6-2 over Franzer and improve to 2-0 on the season overall.

“Everything worked really well for me today and I felt good,” said Kahan. “To win the doubles point is a really huge advantage and it got everyone pumped to go out and play singles.”

Clayton and Nze grabbed the final two points of the match to give Duke the victory over Brown to move into the ITA Regional Championship. Clayton played at the No. 5 spot and moved to 1-1 on the season with the win, while Nze picked up her second win this season and moved to 99 career wins to put the deciding point in the match on the board.

After the Blue Devils sealed the win, three matches remained on courts one, two and six. Elizabeth Plotkin picked up win number three on the season at the No. 2 spot, while on court one Zsilinszka closed out her opponent to move to 3-0 on the season. Monica Gorny suffered the only loss for Duke on the day in a third set tie-breaker, 6-2, 1-6, 1-0 (13-11)

Duke improved to 3-0 on the year while Brown falls to 0-2 overall. The Blue Devils will face Texas A&M on Jan. 31, in the championship match at 2:00 p.m. for a chance to advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

-d-u-k-e-

#7 Duke 6, #62 Brown University 1
Jan. 30, 2011 at Durham, N.C. (Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center)

Singles competition

1. #4 Reka Zsilinszka (DU) def. Bianca Aboubakare (BROWN) 6-2, 7-5

2. #71 Eliazbeth Plotkin (DU) def. Misia Krasowski (BROWN) 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (10-8)

3. #49 Ellah Nze (DU) def. Cassandra Herzberg (BROWN) 6-2, 6-2

4. Rachel Kahan (DU) def. Julie Flanzer (BROWN) 6-0, 6-2

5. #43 Mary Clayton (DU) def. Ariel Caldwell (BROWN) 6-1, 6-0

6. Jessica Harrow (BROWN) def. Monica Gorny (DU) 2-6, 6-1, 1-0 (13-11)

Doubles competition

1. Bianca Aboubakare/Jessica Harrow (BROWN) def. #4 Nadine Fahoum/Ellah Nze (DU) 5-3, DNF

2. #39 Mary Clayton/Monica Gorny (DU) def. Cassandra Herzberg/Misia Krasowski (BROWN) 8-2