No. 14 Duke Downs No. 9 Texas A&M, 4-0

Sunday, February 7

Madison, Wis.

7:30 PM

Duke University

Texas A&M (Consolation Round)

Duke to Face UNLV & NC State in Las Vegas

No. 14 Duke Downs No. 9 Texas A&M, 4-0

2/7/2016 11:30:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score: Duke 4, Texas A&M 0

By: Duke Sports Information

MADISON, Wis. – The 14th-ranked Duke women's tennis team picked up its first win over a top-10 opponent this season, downing No. 9 Texas A&M, 4-0, in a consolation round match during the 2016 ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championship in Madison, Wis. With the victory, the Blue Devils improved to 6-1 on the season.

“After losing a tough match to Vanderbilt, we talked about not feeling sorry for ourselves, coming out the next day, and being ready to play,” said head coach Jamie Ashworth. “I thought that we got better as the weekend went on. We have to get better when we're playing three straight days in a tournament situation like this. I was really proud of how we came out tonight.”

For the second straight match, the Blue Devils entered singles play leading 1-0 after Duke secured the doubles point.

The Duke tandem of juniors Chalena Scholl and Alyssa Smith led the Blue Devils off the doubles courts with a convincing 6-1 win over Texas A&M's Domenica Gonzalez and Saska Gavrilovska. The Blue Devil pair never trailed in the contest, leading 3-0 early. Gonzalez and Gavrilovska took a game, bringing the score to 5-1, before Scholl and Smith successfully closed out the match.

The doubles point was decided on court two, with the match between sophomore Samantha Harris and freshman Kaitlyn McCarthy and Texas A&M's Rutuja Bhosale and Anna Mamalat. Harris and McCarthy jumped out to a 4-1 lead before Bhosale and Mamalat stormed back to tie the set at 4-4. Harris and McCarthy won back-to-back games to earn the doubles point and give Duke a 1-0 lead heading into singles.

Prior to securing the doubles point, the 26th-ranked duo of senior Beatrice Capra and freshman Ellyse Hamlin dropped its match against Rachel Pierson and Eva Paalma, 6-2. The Duke team fell behind 4-1 and was unable to overcome the deficit. With the result, Capra and Hamlin fell to 11-6 on the season.

Duke remained in control during singles, quickly taking matches in straight sets on three courts to secure the victory.

For the second straight match, Scholl led Duke off the singles courts, claiming a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Bhosale on court three. Scholl, the 79th-ranked singles player in the country, caught a rhythm in the first set, rolling to a 5-0 lead before surrendering the only game of the set. In the second set, Scholl and Bhosale remained knotted at 2-2 before Scholl won four of the next five games to win her 10th singles match of the year.

One night after clinching the victory for the Blue Devils over No. 30 Fresno State, McCarthy quickly followed Scholl's lead, earning a 6-3, 6-0 win over 58th-ranked Pierson. McCarthy settled in after falling behind 3-1 in the first set, winning the final five games. McCarthy did not drop a game in the second set en route to her team-leading 19th singles victory of the year.

Harris closed out the Duke win with a 6-3, 6-2 result on court four over Galia Bykova. The Melbourne, Australia, native rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win the final four games of the first set. Harris took a similar approach in the second set, falling behind 2-1 before taking a 4-2 lead. Although Bykova fought back to tie the set at 4-4, Harris successfully closed out the contest to earn Duke its first win over a top-10 opponent this season and secure her sixth singles win of the year.

With the match decided, contests on courts one, five and six remained unfinished. Capra, the 28th-ranked singles player in the country, led 6-4, 0-1 on court one over 53rd-ranked Gavrilovska, while 70th-ranked Hamlin owned a 6-4, 3-4 advantage over Gonzalez on court five. Redshirt freshman Christina Makarova also led on court six, 7-5, 3-0, over Mamalat.

“They were really close to being a really good team [tonight],” Ashworth said. “There are some things we have to work on. We have two weeks until we play again. They have to trust the process, because we're getting better every week we play. We'll keep getting better, and we have to believe in what we're doing.”

The Blue Devils return to action Sunday, Feb. 21, welcoming No. 38 Texas to Durham, N.C., with the match set for a noon start.

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