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Sunday, September 14
Cary, N.C.
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Duke University
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Day Three at Duke Invitational
Duke Closes Competition at Duke Fab Four Invite
9/14/2014 5:13:00 PM | Women's Tennis
CARY, N.C. – The Duke women's tennis team concluded play at the Duke Fab Four Invitational Sunday in Cary, N.C., with the three-day tournament serving as the fall season opener for the Blue Devils. The final day of the event saw five Duke student-athletes compete.
“I thought we played pretty well, but not the best that we could play,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “It was good for us to gauge where everyone was after the summer. It was good to see two of our three freshmen play. It also showed we have a lot of work to do in the next two weeks. I don't think our conditioning was very good. I don't think our competitive fire was where it needed to be. I told them afterwards that we can always control [the competitive fire], whether we're playing well or not. We have to do a better job of being excited to be out there on the court the next time we play in two weeks in California.”
Freshman Samantha Harris finished her first college tennis tournament on a high note, defeating Alabama's 52nd-ranked Danielle Spielmann, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-4, moving the Melbourne, Australia, native to 3-1 for the tournament.
Fellow freshman Rebecca Smaller, also competing in the black draw, outlasted Furman's Karlee Bryde, 7-6 (7), 6-2, in the 15th-place match to conclude her play in the tournament with a victory.
Duke's 109th-ranked Alyssa Smith, competing in the blue draw consolation final, fell to Maya Jansen of Alabama, 6-0, 6-1, dropping the sophomore's weekend record to 2-2.
Senior Ester Goldfeld, who ranks 12th on the ITA's preseason list, fell behind early in the first set of the white draw third-place match to Florida's Josie Kuhlman, 6-2, before retiring from the contest. Goldfeld amassed a 2-2 singles mark over the weekend.
Redshirt senior Rachel Kahan was also scheduled to compete in singles Sunday, however her opponent Katarina Adamovic of Oklahoma State withdrew from the competition, awarding Kahan the walk-over.
With inclement weather threatening the previous day, the final round of doubles competition was moved to Sunday morning. The duo of Kahan and Virginia's Marie Faure continued its strong play, concluding the tournament with an 8-4 victory over Furman's Ansley Speaks and Alex Moreno. The Duke/Virginia pair recorded an overall doubles record of 2-1 over the three-day event.
The team of Smith and Smaller reached the consolation final of the doubles white draw before suffering an 8-7 defeat to North Carolina's Kate Vialle and Ashley Dai. With the loss, the duo of Smith and Smaller fell to 1-2. The pair of Goldfeld and Harris also posted a record of 1-2 in doubles after falling in the third-place match of the blue draw to Miami's Stephanie Wagner and Sinead Lohan, 8-1.
“We wanted to see a few different combinations [in doubles],” Ashworth said. “One of the things we like to use our fall for is to figure out what's the best doubles combinations for the spring. Tournaments like this give us some opportunities to do that.”
Duke resumes competition in two weeks, traveling to the ITA/Riviera All-American in Pacific Palisades, Calif., beginning Saturday, Sept. 27.
#GoDuke
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