Duke Wins ITA Kickoff Weekend Championship

Saturday, January 23

Durham, N.C.

6:00 PM

Duke University

Mississippi State

Capra Claims ITA Carolina Region Senior Award

Duke Wins ITA Kickoff Weekend Championship

1/23/2016 10:00:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score: Duke 4, Mississippi State 1

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Two top-30 programs met in the ITA Kickoff Weekend regional site championship match Saturday, with the 16th-ranked Duke women's tennis defeating 29th-ranked Mississippi State, 4-1, in the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center in Durham, N.C. With the win, the Blue Devils (3-0) earned a spot in the 2016 ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championships tournament, which runs from Feb. 5-8.

“I knew that we would play better than we did yesterday,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “Every match we've played, we've gotten better and better. Mississippi State is a good team and this is one of the tougher regionals. We had some people on the court today that have not played a lot of matches, but we played the best doubles we have played all year.”

For the third straight match, the Blue Devils jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Duke secured the doubles point against Mississippi State.

On court three, juniors Alyssa Smith and Chalena Scholl cruised in their contest against No. 53 Kristina Vozniak and Jennifer Brown. After dropping the first game of the match, the Duke duo won six straight to earn a 6-1 victory and improve to 4-1 overall in doubles action.

Duke secured the doubles point as the 26th-ranked team of senior Beatrice Capra and freshman Ellyse Hamlin defeated Mississippi' State's Georgiana Patrasc and Madison Harrison, 6-3. Capra and Hamlin battled back from an early 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead. Patrasc and Harrison pulled the score even at 3-3 before Capra and Hamlin won the remaining three games to earn their team-best 10th doubles win of the year.

With the doubles point secured, the contest on court two between the Duke team of sophomore Samantha Harris and freshman Kaitlyn McCarthy and the Mississippi State duo of Jasmine Lee and Anastasia Rentouli remained unfinished, with Harris and McCarthy leading, 5-3.

The singles competition showcased a number of evenly matched contests that saw two matches go into third sets.

One day after securing the match for the Blue Devils, freshman Jessica Ho returned to singles action and led the Blue Devils off the courts by defeating Jennifer Brown 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 6 position. Ho never trailed in either set, winning three straight games in the first before Brown brought the score to 3-1. Ho and Brown each won a game, making the score 4-2, before Ho closed out the set. In the second set, the score stood tied at 1-1 before Ho won the final five games to earn her ninth singles victory of the season and her third in dual match play.

The contests on courts one, two and three finished in quick succession, as 29th-ranked McCarthy defeated Harrison, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 before 28th-ranked Capra downed 13th-ranked Lee, 6-4, 6-3, to clinch the match. Harris' match with Patrasc on court three ended simultaneously with that of Capra's on court one, with Harris falling, 6-4, 7-5.

McCarthy stormed out to a 4-0 lead against Harrison before surrendering three straight games that allowed her opponent to pull within two. McCarthy successfully won the next game, however, to take the first set. In the second set, McCarthy fell behind 3-1 and was unable to make up the deficit, as Harrison won the second set, 6-4. McCarthy did not lose her composure in the third set, as she refocused, took a 5-0 lead, and efficiently finished her match to earn the 16th singles win of her college career.

“Going into the match, we knew that Mississippi State was going to be a very tough competitor, and we were going to have to play well in order to win,” McCarthy said. “I got a pretty quick start in singles, and then I was able to fight back after losing the second set, so I was happy with how I played. My coaches helped me focus [after losing the second set] and helped keep the nerves away. It was a matter of execution and playing my game.”

On court one, Capra concluded her match with Lee to register her first dual match singles win of the season. In the opening set, Capra dropped three of the first four games but won five of the next six in order to win the set, 6-4. In the second set, Capra never trailed, opening with a break and a hold to take a 2-0 lead. Although Lee tied the set at 2-2, and again at 3-3, Capra put together a three-game run that secured both the individual and team victory.

Harris, a native of Melbourne, Australia, suffered just her second loss of the year with Saturday's result. Harris pulled within a game in the latter stages of the first set, trailing 5-4, but Patrasc took the 10th game. In the second set, Harris tied the score at 5-5 after trailing by as much as three games, but Patrasc won the final two games to earn the win.

Matches on courts four and five stood unfinished after the team contest was decided. The score between 70th-ranked Hamlin and 36th-ranked Rentouli remained at 4-6, 5-4 on court four, while the match between Scholl, the 79th-ranked singles player, and Vozniak, was suspended with the score at 6-1, 5-7, 3-5.

Duke returns to competition Sunday, Jan. 31, traveling to Evanston, Ill., to face No. 26 Northwestern.

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