Duke Defeats Virginia Tech, 5-2, in ACC Opener

Friday, February 27

Durham, N.C.

6:00 PM

Duke University

Virginia Tech

Duke Defeats Virginia Tech, 5-2, in ACC Opener

2/27/2015 11:09:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke women's tennis team opened conference play with a win Friday, defeating 41st-ranked Virginia Tech, 5-2, in Durham, N.C. With the victory, the Blue Devils (5-5, 1-0) improved to 20-1 when facing the Hokies.

“We talked about it as a team a lot after last weekend, about how the tradition that our program has been built on revolves around ACC success,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “We have to have that kind of pride in the history of our program. It didn't matter who we were playing today. We really value what we're doing in the conference. The national success we've had comes from and has come from the success we've had in the conference. We really wanted to make sure we got a strong start to our conference season, and reset ourselves for the conference play.”

The team's competitive pride was on full display from the outset of the match as Duke opened the contest by winning a hard-fought doubles point over the Hokies.

The Blue Devils trailed early, as the tandem of sophomore Alyssa Smith and senior Ester Goldfeld dropped their contest against Francesca Fusinato and Raluca Mita, 4-8. The Duke duo fell behind and was unable to rally from a 2-6 deficit. Smith and Goldfeld won two straight games to pull within two of Fusinato and Mita, but the Hokie pair took the match by winning two games of its own. Following the loss, Smith and Goldfeld own a 2-6 dual match record this season.

Duke pulled even with Virginia Tech in the race for the doubles point after the team of senior Annie Mulholland and freshman Samantha Harris defeated the 52nd-ranked pair of Elena Cerezo-Codina and Sansitha Nandakumar, 8-4, on court three. Mulholland and Harris trailed 0-2 at the start of the match before storming back to win four consecutive games. After the two doubles pairs traded two games apiece, bringing the match to 6-4, the Duke duo closed out the contest by winning the final two games and earning its fifth dual match win of the year. All five of the team's victories have come at the No. 3 position this season.

Duke clinched the doubles point with the match on court two, as the pair of junior Beatrice Capra and redshirt senior Rachel Kahan earned an 8-6 win over Caroline Daxhelet and Kelly Williford. Capra and Kahan asserted themselves early, taking a 6-2 lead. The two teams traded games, bringing the score to 7-3. Although Capra and Kahan were initially unable to close the match, as Daxhelet and Williford brought the score to 7-6, the Duke team held serve to secure the doubles point for Duke and earn their second doubles win of the dual match season.

In singles, Duke's play on courts one and three helped set the tone for the other courts, as the Blue Devils would go on to win on four of the six singles courts to capture the victory.

Harris, the 87th-ranked singles player in the nation, continued her strong singles play, winning in dominant fashion over 104th-ranked Daxhelet, 6-4, 6-1. Harris and Daxhelet traded games over the first six of the first set, with the score knotted at 3-3, before the Melbourne, Australia native strung together two straight games to take a 5-3 lead. Daxhelet would pull within one game before Harris closed the first set. In the second set, Harris showed her true form, winning four straight games to take a 4-0 lead. Harris would surrender just one additional game before winning the final two games needed to earn the fourth dual match win of her college career.

“Samantha has been close to winning matches,” Ashworth said. “Last weekend against Stanford, she was up and it was stopped. Against Florida, she was up and it was stopped. For her to close it out was big for her, just to be able to finish a match. She hasn't finished a match in a long time. She's been playing well. She's been doing a good job of putting pressure on people and it helps the entire team when you see you're up 3-0 and you're up in some other matches.”

Capra's 6-2, 6-2 win over 81st-ranked Ilinca Stoica on court one helped bring Duke within a point of securing the win. Capra remained in control throughout the match, trailing just once, following the first game in the second set. In the first set, Capra held a 5-1 lead before she and Stoica traded games to conclude the opening set. In the second set, after falling behind 0-1, Capra put together a four-game stretch that gave her a lead Stoica was unable to overcome. Capra improved to 3-2 in dual matches this season with the win.

“Beatrice was huge,” Ashworth said. “She hasn't been playing very much. She hasn't been practicing very much. It was huge for her, mentally, to win that match how she did. It was huge for our team to have her win that match how she did. Stoica is a good player. She just beat Clemson's number one last weekend. She's a really good player. For [Capra], and for us, that was a big win.”

The match would be clinched for Duke on court six, as Mulholland outlasted her opponent, Katherine Butler, 7-5, 6-3. Mulholland maintained control in the first set, taking a 3-2 lead. The momentum would shift, however, allowing Butler to come back and tie that set at 5-5. Mulholland settled back in and won the final two games of the opening set. With the second set tied at 3-3, Mulholland caught a rhythm that would allow her to win the final three games and earn her fifth dual match win of the season.

“For me, the biggest thing was not letting a bad point trickle into the next point,” Mulholland said. “I took it one point at a time and made sure I was really disciplined with my shot choices. I thought Butler played really well in the first set when she came up with some big points and big shots. In the second set, I just closed out my opportunities a little better. In the first set, there were some games where I gained points and I didn't get it through the finish line. I did a better job of that in the second set.”

Although the match was clinched, freshman Rebecca Smaller still earned her second dual match win of the season after defeating Mita, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 on court five. Both of Smaller's wins this dual match season have come at the No. 5 position.

Prior to Mulholland clinching the match for Duke, 86th-ranked Kahan fell to Cerezo-Codina on court four, 3-6, 3-6. The loss marked the 12th of the season for the Unionville, Conn., native.

On court two, 51st-ranked Goldfeld was forced to retire while trailing Fusinato, 3-6, 6-3, 2-4.

The Blue Devils are back in action Sunday, welcoming Louisville to Durham, N.C. Sunday's match, scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. in the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center, marks the second time this season the two teams will meet.

“We're definitely a different team now than we were then, and so are they,” Ashworth said. “The one thing we do know from playing them earlier is that every single one of their girls hits the ball really hard and flat. They're a good indoor team and when we played them last time, we were knocked back a little bit by how hard every one of their girls hit the ball. I think we'll be ready and expect that this time.”

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