No. 5 Duke Drops No. 7 California 5-2

Friday, March 11

Tempe, Ariz.

3:30 PM

Duke University

California

No. 4 Duke Set for Showdown Against No. 3 UNC

No. 5 Duke Drops No. 7 California 5-2

3/12/2011 12:10:00 AM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

TEMPE, Ariz. – The fifth-ranked Duke women's tennis team took down seventh-ranked California 5-2, on Friday afternoon at the Whiteman Tennis Center.

In the win over the Golden Bears, the Blue Devils won two out of three doubles matches, and picked up four wins in singles action. Freshman Rachel Kahan extended her singles match win streak to 14, senior Elizabeth Plotkin has won seven in a row and sophomore Mary Clayton is currently on a four match win streak, as Duke improved to 60-18 in singles and 22-17 doubles dual matches this season.

“It was a great win for us today,” said women's head coach Jamie Ashworth. “We competed really well and I was happy with how we came out in both singles and doubles. Our play in doubles has improved over the last 10 days and hopefully we will keep getting better.”

Duke (12-2, 2-0 ACC) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after winning its fourth straight doubles point. The No. 50 duo of Clayton and Monica Gorny were once again the first doubles team off the courts as they routed Marina Cossou and Anett Schutting 8-2, at the number three doubles slot.

The fourth-ranked pair of Jana Juricova and Mari Andersson from California proved their ranking, as they downed Ellah Nze and Kahan 8-1 to push their winning streak to an incredible 16 consecutive wins.

The Blue Devil pair of Nadine Fahoum and Hanna Mar sealed the doubles point for Duke as they edged out an 8-6 win over Taylor Davis and Annie Goransson on court two.

With the early 1-0 lead heading into singles action, Duke used its momentum from doubles to win four singles matches. Clayton came through first for the Blue Devils in singles with a 6-1, 6-1, straight set win over Alice Duranteau, while ninth-ranked Reka Zsilinszka downed No. 62 Goransson 6-0, 6-3, on court three that extended Duke's lead to 3-0.

Juricova, the fourth-ranked singles player, notched a point for the Golden Bears with a 6-2, 7-5, straight set win over Fahoum at the number one position.

Kahan answered for Duke when she clinched the win over California on court five with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, come from behind win over Anett Schutting. With two singles matches remaining on courts four and two, Duke claimed its final point of the competition when No. 71 Plotkin downed No. 38 Tayler Davis 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

“One of the things we focused on today was the 'next play',” said Ashworth. “By this I mean we wanted to do a good job of moving on to the next point, whether we won or lost the point. California is a really good team and it was a great effort to grind out a 5-2 win against them.”

The Blue Devils will continue their road trip when they travel to take on No. 15 Notre Dame in Tampa, Fla., on March 17. First serve is scheduled for 12 p.m. at the University of South Florida Varsity Courts.

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