No. 4 Duke Advances to NCAA Round of 16 With 4-1 Win Over Old Dominion

Saturday, May 7

Durham, N.C.

4 p.m.

Duke University

Old Dominion

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 4 Duke Advances to NCAA Round of 16 With 4-1 Win Over Old Dominion

5/7/2022 10:27:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score FINAL BOX (PDF)

DURHAM – The fourth-ranked Duke women's tennis team advanced to the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships' round of 16 for the fourth consecutive season and 21st time under head coach Jamie Ashworth, by registering a 4-1 win over Old Dominion Saturday afternoon at Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.

"First, congrats to Old Dominion. They had a great year, and we knew when we saw that draw that it was going to be a tough match for us," said Ashworth. "They've had some really quality wins and I knew that they were going to compete hard – it's just the character of their team."

Duke (21-3) opened doubles action with the first win of the afternoon, as No. 46 Chloe Beck and Ellie Coleman quickly dispatched Alesya Yakubovich and Shahar Biran, 6-1, on court two. Old Dominion's eighth-ranked tandem of Yuliia Starodubtseva and Tatsiana Sasnouskaya issued a response for the Monarchs, beating No. 17 Karolina Berankova and Georgia Drummy 6-3 at the top spot.

The doubles point came down to court three, where Margaryta Bilokin and Eliza Omirou were locked in a back-and-forth battle with Alexandra Viktorovich and Sofia Johnson. After trading the first eight games, Old Dominion took the next one to take a slim 5-4 lead. That was the last game that went the way of the Monarchs though, as Bilokin and Omirou rattled off the next three to win the match 7-5 and give Duke a 1-0 lead.

Bilokin and 106th-ranked senior Kelly Chen added to the Duke Blue Devil lead as they both captured quick victories against their respective opponents. Bilokin commanded her match against Yakubovich from the jump and didn't surrender a game as she breezed to a 6-0, 6-0 win in flight five. Chen made quick work of Sofia Johnson on court four, notching a 6-1, 6-1 victory to increase the lead to 3-0. The senior's win was a monumental one for her, as she moved into a tie for fifth all-time at Duke in total career victories.

"I thought we escaped with the doubles there a little bit," Ashworth added. "We didn't do a great job of finishing games when we had the opportunity to, and I thought we needed to be better than that. But then in singles, getting Marge and Kelly quick – mentally, that 3-0 deficit is tough to come back from and I'm proud of the effort we had."

Old Dominion (21-7) broke through on the scoreboard via a win in flight one after No. 18 Starodubtseva bested Duke's ninth-ranked Beck (6-4, 6-2), but that would be the Monarch's lone tally of the afternoon. Freshman Emma Jackson iced the match shortly after with a 6-2, 6-3 win at the number three spot to give Duke its 10th consecutive win.

"There's 16 teams left after this weekend and we're one of those 16 that have a chance," said Ashworth. "We've got to prepare and do everything we can to take advantage of the opportunity that they've worked hard to earn. I think we need to carry over that energy that we played with this weekend – we've done such a good job of doing that over the past couple of weeks we just have to keep it going. After you play these matches, if you do things the right way you should be physically, mentally and emotionally tired. We have some time here to regroup and get fired up again for next Friday night."

Up Next
The Blue Devils advance to the super regional match where they will host the winner of Wake Forest and No. 14 seed Georgia on Friday, May 13 at 5 p.m.

RESULTS
Singles (5,4,1,3*)
1. #18 Yuliia Starodubtseva (ODU) def. #9 Chloe Beck (DU) 6-4, 6-2
2. #14 Georgia Drummy (DU) vs. #110 Tatsiana Sasnouskaya (ODU) 6-4, 4-6, unfinished
3. Emma Jackson (DU) def. Marina Alcaide (ODU) 6-2, 6-3
4. #106 Kelly Chen (DU) def. Sofia Johnson (ODU) 6-1, 6-1
5. Margaryta Bilokin (DU) def. Alesya Yakubovich (ODU) 6-0, 6-0
6. Ellie Coleman (DU) vs. Shahar Biran (ODU) 4-6, 3-4, unfinished

Doubles (2,1,3)
1. #8 Yuliia Starodubtseva/Tatsiana Sasnouskaya (ODU) def. #17 Georgia Drummy/Karolina Berankova (DU) 6-3
2. #46 Chloe Beck/Ellie Coleman (DU) def. Alesya Yakubovich/Shahar Biran (ODU) 6-1
3. Margaryta Bilokin/Eliza Omirou (DU) def. Alexandra Viktorovich/Sofia Johnson (ODU) 7-5

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