Blue Devils Fall on the Road, 5-2, at No. 25 Miami

Friday, February 23

Coral Gables, FL

12 p.m.

Duke University

Miami

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devils Fall on the Road, 5-2, at No. 25 Miami

2/23/2024 6:11:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Following a nearly three-week break of matches, the 14th-ranked Duke women's tennis team traveled to Coral Gables, Fla., to open ACC action against 25th-ranked Miami on Friday afternoon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center. The Blue Devils dropped a 5-2 decision to the Hurricanes to move to 6-3, 0-1 in the ACC, while Miami moved to 3-2, 1-0.

Blue Devil Junior Emma Jackson highlighted the afternoon as she registered her third career victory against a top-10 ranked opponent as she defeated 10th-ranked Alexa Noel.

How It Happened

The Blue Devils entered the match without junior Ellie Coleman, who is ranked No. 81 in singles, as she missed the contest.
Miami got off to a hot start in doubles on court one as Xinyi Nong and Isabella Pfennig won the first four games to take a 4-0 lead against Emma Jackson and Karolina Berankova.The Blue Devils won their first game to cut the advantage to 4-1, but eventually lost, 6-1.
The Hurricanes were able to clinch the doubles point with a 6-3 win on court three as Alexa Noel and Audrey Boch-Collins defeated Iuliia Bryzgalova and Brianna Shvets.Duke trailed, 3-1, rallied to even the score, 3-3, but Miami went on to win the next three games to clinch the point.
On court two, Leonie Schuknecht and Antonia Balzert of Miami came back from being down, 3-1, to Shavit Kimchi and Katie Codd to win 6-4.
In singles play, Miami was able to add two more points on the board as No. 67 Pfennig registered a 6-4, 6-2 victory on court two against No. 80 Kimchi, while No. 101 Boch-Collins posted a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 109 Shvets on court five.
The Hurricanes clinched the victory on court three as Balzert knocked off No. 76 Codd, 6-1, 6-3.
Duke was able to get its first point on the board on court four as Bryzgalova registered a three-set victory over Schuknecht, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
After dropping the first set on court one, 6-3, to 10th-ranked Noel, Duke's Jackson came back from being down 4-2 in the second set to collect a 6-4 victory in the second.In the tiebreaking third set, Jackson and Noel were back-and-forth the entire time.Noel led, 6-5, but Jackson won three straight to take an 8-6 lead.Jackson, who hails from La Grange Park, Ill., ended up winning 10-8 to improve to 12-8 on the year and cut the Miami advantage to 4-2.
On court six, Duke's Berankova had a slow start dropping the first set against Nong, 6-2.Berankova came back in the second to take a 4-0 lead, before winning, 7-5.In the third set, she held a 3-2 lead, but Nong came back to take the match, 6-3.

Notes

Duke was forced to switch its No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams due to junior Ellie Coleman missing the match.
Duke played its first outdoor match of the 2024 campaign.
The Blue Devils dropped their second straight contest at Miami and moved the all-time series to 20-15.
Iuliia Bryzgalova has won three out of her last four dual matches and now owns 95 all-time singles wins.
Emma Jackson has six ranked wins on the season out of 12.

Quotes

"It was a tough match.It's always a tough place for us to play.Credit to Miami as they came out and were more aggressive than we were in doubles. It seemed like anytime there was a big point they were the ones being the aggressive ones and we were kind of on our heels.I thought we just got in too big of a hole.We gave ourselves a chance in singles, but we were just in such a big hole that it was tough to dig out of, especially there. It's such a tough place to do that."-- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
"It was a great win for her.Alexa has been one of the best players in college tennis the last couple of years.I was proud of her hanging in there, especially after losing that first set.She just swung, played free and when Emma does that she can compete with anybody.So, it was great to see and hopefully it gives her some confidence moving forward." -- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth on Emma Jackson's win

Next Match

Duke will close its trip to Florida on Sunday, Feb. 25 with a 12 p.m., match at 33rd-ranked Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's tennis, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWTEN".

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No. 25 Miami 5, No. 14 Duke 2
February 23, 2024
Neil Schiff Tennis Center * Coral Gables, Fla.

Doubles
1. Xinyi Nong/Isabella Pfennig (Miami) def. Emma Jackson/Karolina Berankova (DU) 6-1
2. Leonie Schuknecht/Antonia Balzert (Miami) def. Shavit Kimchi/Katie Codd (DU) 6-4
3. Alexa Noel/Audrey Boch-Collins (Miami) def. Iuliia Bryzgalova/Brianna Shvets (DU) 6-3

Singles
1. Emma Jackson (DU) def. #10 Alexa Noel (Miami) 3-6, 6-4, 10-8
2. #67 Isabella Pfennig (Miami) def. #80 Shavit Kimchi (DU) 6-4, 6-2
3. Antonia Balzert (Miami) def. #76 Katie Codd (DU) 6-1, 6-3
4. Iuliia Bryzgalova (DU) def. Leonie Schuknecht (Miami) 6-2, 2-6, 6-2
5. #101 Audrey Boch-Collins (Miami) def. #109 Brianna Shvets (DU) 6-4, 6-2
6. Xinyi Nong (Miami) def. Karolina Berankova (DU) 6-2, 5-7, 6-3

Order of Finish: Doubles (1,3*,2), Singles (5,2,3*,4,1,6)