Coleman Clinches 4-3 Win for Duke Against No. 6 Michigan

Sunday, February 16

Durham, N.C.

11:00 AM

Duke University

Michigan

Photo by: Bri Shaw, Duke Athletics

Coleman Clinches 4-3 Win for Duke Against No. 6 Michigan

2/16/2025 3:53:00 PM | Women's Tennis

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DURHAM, N.C. – Duke women's tennis senior Ellie Coleman came through with a three-set victory, while battling cramping over the final two sets, to help lift the 14th-ranked Blue Devils past sixth-ranked Michigan on Sunday afternoon inside the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.

The Blue Devils collected their sixth-straight win over a top 10 ranked opponent at home and moved to 9-4 overall in Sheffield versus top 10 foes. On the season, Duke improved to 6-2 overall, while Michigan dropped to 6-3.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke came out and grabbed the crucial doubles point early with victories on court one and two.
On the No. 1 court, it featured a pair of ranked teams as Duke's 11th-ranked Ellie Coleman and Irina Balus went up against 27th-ranked Piper Charney and Jessica Bernales.The Blue Devils won the first five games in impressive fashion and took the match, 6-1.
Michigan came back on court three and totaled a 6-1 win of its own as Ava Bruno and Lily Jones totaled a win over Emma Jackson and Eleana Yu.
It all came down to court two with the Blue Devil tandem of Shavit Kimchi and Ava Krug playing together for only the second dual match of their career against Julia Fliegner and Reese Miller of Michigan.Duke fell behind, 2-0, but responded by winning four-straight games to take a 4-2 lead.The Wolverines came back two win two-straight to even the contest, 4-4.The Blue Devils then won the final two games to clinch the point for Duke, 6-4.
In singles, both teams won the first set on three courts.
Michigan evened the match with a win on court one as fourth-ranked Fliegner totaled a 7-5, 6-0 victory over Duke's 11th-ranked Balus.In the first set, Fliegner led 1-0 and 3-2, but Balus battled back to take a 4-3 lead.Michigan came back to win the next two games to lead, 5-4, but Balus responded by evening the match, 5-5.Fliegner then finished the set with a pair of wins to take the first, 7-5.She then earned the win with a 6-0 victory in the second to tie the score, 1-1.
Jackson gave Duke a 2-1 lead with a 6-3, 6-4 victory on court three as the 29th-ranked senior defeated 36th-ranked Jones.A product of La Grange Park, Ill., Jackson never trailed in the first set earning the 6-3 win.In the second set, she fell behind, 3-2, but won four out of the next five games to earn the ranked win, 6-4.
The Wolverines quickly evened the score, 2-2, as 30th-ranked Charney totaled a 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) win over 23rd-ranked Yu on court two.
On court five, Duke's 51st-ranked Kimchi gave the Blue Devils a 3-2 lead as she came-from-behind to total a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Emily Sartz-Lunde.In the third set, Kimchi came back from a 3-1 deficit to earn a 6-3 victory.
Duke's Katie Codd went to a third set for the fifth time this season and dropped a 7-5, 3-6, 3-6 decision to Bernales to even the score, 3-3.After never trailing in the first set, Codd never could get a lead in the second and third to fall to Bernales.
The contest came down to court four with Duke's Coleman against 66th-ranked Miller.
In the first set, Coleman fell behind, 4-2, and 3-5, before storming back to win four-consecutive games to take the first, 7-5.Coleman, who is from Midland, Mich., opened with a 4-2 lead in the second, but Miller made a comeback of her own winning three-straight games, including a pair of huge deuce points to lead, 5-4.Miller wound up winning the second set with a 7-2 tiebreaker.In the third set, Coleman won the first game, but Miller evened the ledger, 1-1.Coleman then won the next two games to go ahead, 3-1.Miller broke Coleman to cut the lead to 3-2, but Coleman had a break of her own to go ahead, 4-2.Coleman then finished out the match with a 6-2 victory.

NOTES

Both Irina Balus (6-1) and Eleana Yu (3-1) suffered their first dual match losses of the season.
Balus and Ellie Coleman posted their third win of the season against a ranked opponent with the victory to move to 13-5.
Coleman posted her fourth win of the season against ranked opponents and is now 17-11 over her career in three-set matches.
Coleman collected her 10th career match-clinching victory on Sunday and the first of the season.
Ava Krug and Shavit Kimchi moved to 2-0 together in doubles with a pair of wins over the weekend.
Emma Jackson collected her sixth ranked singles win of the season and 20th of her collegiate career.
Shavit Kimchi moved to 4-2 in dual singles matches on the year and snapped a two-match losing streak.

QUOTES

"We challenged our team to be more emotionally invested after our loss on Friday. Tough, 4-3, loss to Ohio State. I thought they answered that.That was an electric atmosphere out here. And I told them, whatever if it takes -- three and a half hours, four hours, that we have to be invested the entire four hours of the match. We spent a lot of time the last two weeks working on our doubles and it showed this weekend -- didn't do as much on the single stuff as we normally would. That showed a little bit too, but we have to have a complete effort on all fronts. I was proud of the team. I'm proud of how they responded after Friday.We came out yesterday to prepare for this, and we actually didn't hit a ball. We just sat and talked.They set some goals for themselves and they did a really good job of following through."-- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
"It was electric.It was just an awesome match all around. Obviously, it came down to me, but it was the effort of team to get it to, 3-3.I am happy I was able to pull through for the team. The support was amazing from the team and from the fans.We have really made it a tough place to play in Sheffield.It was really amazing all around."-- Senior Ellie Coleman

NEXT MATCH

Duke will next open ACC action at Boston College (Feb. 21) and Syracuse (Feb. 23) next weekend.The match with the Eagles will be at 3 p.m., while the contest against the Orange will feature a first serve at 11 a.m.

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

#GoDuke

#14 Duke 4, #6 Michigan 3
February 16, 2025
Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center * Durham, N.C.

Doubles
1. #11 Ellie Coleman/Irina Balus (DU) #27 Piper Charney/Jessica Bernales (UM) 6-1
2. Shavit Kimchi/Ava Krug (DU) def. Julia Fliegner/Reese Miller (UM) 6-4
3. Ava Bruno/Lily Jones (UM) def. Emma Jackson/Eleana Yu (DU) 6-1

Singles
1. #4 Julia Fliegner (UM) def. #11 Irina Balus (DU) 7-5, 6-0
2. #30 Piper Charney (UM) def. #23 Eleana Yu (DU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)
3. #29 Emma Jackson (DU) def. #36 Lily Jones (UM) 6-3, 6-4
4. Ellie Coleman (DU) def. #66 Reese Miller (UM) 7-5, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2
5. #51 Shavit Kimchi (DU) def. Emily Sartz-Lunde (UM) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
6. Jessica Bernales (UM) def. Katie Codd (DU) 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,3,2*), Singles (1,3,2,5,6,4*)