Duke Falls to Miami on the Road

Thursday, April 2

Coral Gables, Fla.

5:00 PM

Duke University

Miami

Duke Falls to Miami on the Road

4/2/2015 11:45:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The 24th-ranked Duke women's tennis team fell behind early and was unable to recover after dropping the doubles point, suffering a 6-1 setback to 16th-ranked Miami Thursday afternoon in Coral Gables, Fla. The loss, the first on the road against a conference opponent, drops the team's record to 12-7 on the year, and 7-2 in ACC play.

For just the second time this conference season, Duke fell behind following doubles action. Duke's team of freshman Samantha Harris and senior Annie Mulholland dropped its fourth match of the season, falling to the 29th-ranked pair of Monique Albuquerque and Clemtina Riobueno, 8-3. Albuquerque and Riobueno amassed a 4-0 lead that proved too difficult to overcome for Harris and Mulholland, who trailed throughout the contest and ultimately suffered their first loss against a nationally ranked opponent.

The doubles point was clinched on court three, as the tandem of junior Beatrice Capra and redshirt senior Rachel Kahan fell to Miami's Lina Lileikite and Wendy Zhang, 8-3. Similar to the action on court one, Capra and Kahan found themselves in a hole early, trailing 2-1 at the outset of the match. The momentum from the early stages of the contest would carry over throughout the remainder of the competition. With Lileikite and Zhang owning a 6-3 advantage late in the contest, Duke was unable to cut the deficit, dropping the final two games to concede the doubles point. Capra and Kahan fall to 7-4 on the year, and 6-1 in conference matches with the loss.

With the doubles point decided, the match on court two between senior Ester Goldfeld and sophomore Alyssa Smith and Miami's Stephanie Wagner and Sinead Lohan, remained unfinished, with Goldfeld and Smith trailing, 7-4.

Miami's strong doubles play carried over into the singles contests, as the Hurricanes won the first set on five of the six singles courts.

Harris, the 55th-ranked singles player, remained stout at the No. 3 position this season, defeating 63rd-ranked Riobueno, 6-4, 6-4. With the first set tied at 1-1, Harris strung together three straight games to take a lead that was insurmountable for Riobueno. Similar to the first set, Harris jumped out to an early lead in the second set that Riobueno was unable to overcome. Harris owns an overall record of 19-6 on the year, and a team-best seven ACC wins.

In a matchup between two top-40 ranked singles players, 38th-ranked Goldfeld faced 36th-ranked Lohan on court two. Goldfeld struggled to secure any momentum in the match, falling, 6-0, 6-4. The ACC loss is just the third of the year for the Brooklyn, N.Y., native. After not winning a game in the first set, Goldfeld came out in the second and led 4-1 before Lohan stormed back by winning three straight games to tie the set at 4-4. Goldfeld was unable to respond, dropping the final two games.

On court six, Mulholland saw early leads in both sets but was unable to hold off Albuquerque, falling, 6-3, 6-4. After falling behind 1-0 early, Mulholland won two straight games to see a 3-1 lead. Mulholland surrendered five straight games after going up 3-1 to drop the set, 6-3. In the second set, Mulholland was unable to hold on to a 3-2 lead, as Albuquerque won three straight games to take a 5-3 lead that Mulholland could not overcome. Mulholland now owns an overall mark of 18-8 on the year and a 6-2 ledger in ACC play.

The match would be clinched on court four, with 109th-ranked Kahan falling to No. 125 Lileikite, 6-2, 6-3. Kahan surrendered an early 1-0 lead in the first set, and after trailing 4-2, was unable to win another game. In the second set, Kahan trailed 1-4 before winning two straight games to pull within one. Similar to the first set however, Lileikite closed the set strong, winning the final two games to earn the win. The loss is just the second against an ACC opponent for Kahan this year.

Although the match's result was determined, the contests on courts one and five were played to finish. On court one, Capra dropped her third conference match of the year, falling to sixth-ranked Wagner, 7-5, 6-1. Smith dropped her match at the No. 5 position to Silvia Fuentes, 4-6, 6-4, 10-5. Smith is 2-1 during conference play in 2015.

Duke resumes competition Saturday, traveling to Tallahassee, Fla., for a noon contest against 66th-ranked Florida State.

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