No. 7 Duke Closes Road Swing with 4-0 Win at No. 41 San Diego State

Thursday, March 13

San Diego, Calif.

6:00 PM

Duke University

San Diego State

Photo by: Bri Shaw, Duke Athletics

No. 7 Duke Closes Road Swing with 4-0 Win at No. 41 San Diego State

3/13/2025 10:23:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The seventh-ranked Duke women's tennis team closed its six-match road swing Thursday with a 4-0 victory over 41st-ranked San Diego State at the Aztec Tennis Center in San Diego.

The Blue Devils moved to 11-2 overall, while the Aztec's fell to 7-5.

HOW IT HAPPENED

San Diego State came out and registered the first win of the match as Yasmine Kabbaj and Ninon Martinache posted a 6-2 victory in doubles on court two against Duke's Shavit Kimchi and Ava Krug.
Duke responded on court three with a 7-5 win by Emma Jackson and Liv Hovde versus Gloria Alogo and Zoe Olmos.
It all came down to court one for the doubles point with 14th-ranked Ellie Coleman and Irina Balus versus Liisa Varul and Jo-Yee Chan.The Blue Devils jumped out to a commanding, 5-2, lead, but the Aztec's battled back to even the ledger, 5-5.Coleman and Balus were able to pull through and win the last two games to clinch the doubles point for Duke.
In singles action, Duke led early on five of the six courts and eventually won the first set on the first four courts.
Duke's 33rd-ranked Eleana Yu put the second point on the board as she never trailed on court four and defeated Martinache, 6-2, 6-1.
Hovde, a freshman from Daniel Island, S.C., won her second straight singles match with a 6-3, 7-5 victory on court two versus Chan.
Needing one more win to clinch the victory for Duke, Balus, Jackson and Kimchi were close to finishing off their matches.
Kimchi, a product of Sdey Hemed, Israel, led, 3-2, in the first set, but ended up dropping the set, 6-4.She came back and won the next two sets against Olmos, 6-4, 6-0, to clinch the win.
Both Jackson and Balus were one game away from clinching wins, but were abandoned.

NOTES

Shavit Kimchi moved to 6-2 in dual match play on the season and won her third straight contest.
Kimchi clinched the match for the second time this season and her ninth of her short career.
With the win, Eleana Yu is now 12-5 in singles action as a sophomore.
Liv Hovde is now 2-1 on the season for the Blue Devils in singles play and has won two consecutive matches.
Duke closed the six-match road swing with a 6-0 ledger.
Back in her home state of California, junior Katie Codd saw action on court six and split two sets, before the match was clinched.

QUOTES

"I told our team after that I was proud of the way they handled the adversity during the week. I don't know if we've ever played a match where we've practiced one out of four days leading up to a match. So, we didn't know what to expect from them, but they handled themselves really well. They know if they can come out with a lot of energy, but maybe not as crisp as they need to be on the court, they can overcome that if they stay positive. It wasn't ideal conditions, with 30-mile an hour wind, cold and not a lot of preparation, but I'm proud of how they handled themselves. I thought they were very mature about everything and that's what we need to be able to do." -- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth

NEXT MATCH

Duke will return home to open a three-match homestand starting on Tuesday, March 18 at 5 p.m., as the Blue Devils host Yale.

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

#GoDuke

#7 Duke 4, #41 San Diego State 0
March 13, 2025
Aztec Tennis Center * San Diego, Calif.

Doubles
1. #14 Ellie Coleman/Irina Balus (DU) def. Liisa Varul/Jo-Yee Chan (SDS 6-4
2. Yasmine Kabbaj/Ninon Martinache (SDS) def. Shavit Kimchi/Ava Krug (DU) 6-2
3. Emma Jackson/Liv Hovde (DU) def. Gloria Alogo/Zoe Olmos (SDS) 7-5

Singles
1. #13 Irina Balus (DU) vs. Yasmine Kabbaj (SDS) 6-2, 3-6, 5-4 unfinished
2. Liv Hovde (DU) def. Jo-Yee Chan (SDS) 6-3, 7-5
3. #29 Emma Jackson (DU) vs. Gloria Alogo (SDS) 6-1, 3-6, 5-2 unfinished
4. #33 Eleana Yu (DU) def. Ninon Martinache (SDS) 6-2, 6-1
5. #60 Shavit Kimchi (DU) def. Zoe Olmos (SDS) 4-6, 6-4, 6-0
6. Katie Codd (DU) vs. Liisa Varul (SDS) 6-7, 6-4 unfinished
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,2,3*), Singles (4,2,5*)