Duke Heads West for Key ACC Road Trip at California & Stanford

#4 Duke (16-2, 8-0 ACC) at #17 California (11-4, 8-0 ACC)
Friday, April 4 at 4:30 p.m. (ET)
Hellman Tennis Complex * Berkeley, Calif.
Live Scoring l Watch Live

#4 Duke (16-2, 8-0 ACC) at #25 Stanford (13-4, 6-2 ACC)
Saturday, April 5 at 5:00 p.m. (ET)
Taube Pavilion * Stanford, Calif.
Live Scoring

DURHAM, N.C. – With two weeks of action remaining in the regular season, the fourth-ranked Duke women's tennis team heads to the West Coast this week for a key road swing in ACC action as the Blue Devils travel to 17th-ranked California on Friday, April 4 at 4:30 p.m., and 25th-ranked Stanford on Saturday, April 5 at 5 p.m.

The Blue Devils are riding an 11-match winning streak and feature a 16-2 overall and 8-0 ACC ledger. California owns an 11-4 overall and 8-0 ACC mark, while Stanford enters the weekend with a 13-4 overall and 6-2 ACC record.

Duke's current 8-0 ACC mark is tied with California for the ACC lead. It marks the 14th time in program history Duke has opened league play at 8-0 and the first since 2017-18.

The Series with California
Duke and California will meet for the 13th time in program history with the Blue Devils leading the series, 10-2. It will mark the first meeting since Feb. 9, 2014, which took place in Charlottesville, Va. Each of the last two matches were played in Charlottesville. This will mark the first meeting in Berkeley, Calif. The Blue Devils have won four matches in a row.

Scouting California
California enters the weekend with an 11-4 overall and 8-0 ACC ledger. The Bears have won 10 matches in a row heading into the showdown with the Blue Devils on Friday. California features Mao Mushika (25), Lan Mi (52), Katja Wiersholm (56) and Jessica Alsola (83) ranked in the latest ITA singles ledger. The doubles team of Mushika and Alsola (11) and Mushika and Wiersholm (24) are ranked nationally.

The Series with Stanford
Duke and Stanford will face each other for the 13th time in program history with the Cardinals leading the series, 10-2. In matches played at Stanford, the Blue Devils are 0-2 with the only meetings taking place in 1997 and 2006 during the NCAA Tournament. Duke won the last meeting, 4-3, a season ago on Feb. 11, 2023 in the National Team Indoors.

Scouting Stanford
Stanford enters the weekend with a 13-4 overall and 6-2 ACC ledger. The Cardinals will host North Carolina Friday, April 4 prior to welcoming the Blue Devils on Saturday. Stanford currently features Valere Glozman (8), Connie Ma (13) and Valencia Xu (123) ranked nationally in singles. The doubles team of Ma and Glozman (23) and Xu and Alexis Blokhina (53) are ranked in the ITA ledger.

Hey, I Know You!
Duke women's tennis sophomore Eleana Yu will face her former team, Stanford, on Saturday. Yu, a native of Mason, Ohio, spent her freshman year at Stanford in 2023-24 and totaled a 13-2 singles ledger before transferring to Durham over the summer.

What is Next
Duke returns home for the final two regular season matches by hosting Florida State on Saturday, April 12 at 11 a.m., and Sunday, April 13 at 11 a.m., versus Miami. The Miami match will mark senior day for Ellie Coleman and Emma Jackson.

Last Time Out
Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth became the first ACC coach to reach 250 ACC victories on March 30 as the ninth-ranked Blue Devils registered a 4-2 victory over 61st-ranked SMU at Ambler Tennis Stadium in Durham.

Duke jumped out early in the match to capture the doubles point by winning on courts one and three. The 13th-ranked Blue Devil tandem of Ellie Coleman and Irina Balus were impressive as they didn't drop a game winning 6-0 on court one versus Sophie Llewellyn and Caroline McGinley. On court three, Duke's Emma Jackson and Liv Hovde were trailing, 3-2, early against Kayla Schefke and Arianna Stavropoulos, but regrouped and won four out of the next five games to win the match, 6-4. When the doubles point was clinched, Duke's Shavit Kimchi and Ava Krug were trailing Ellie Pittman and Drew Morris, 4-3.

In singles play, Krug put the second point on the board for the Blue Devils as she defeated McGinley, 6-2, 6-1, on court six to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead. A product of Sarasota, Fla., Krug never trailed in her match to remain undefeated in dual match action. Sophomore Eleana Yu was solid on court three as she never trailed in her contest with Pittman. Yu, who is from Mason, Ohio, was tied with Pittman, 1-1, early, but went on to win 11 out of the final 12 games to take the match, 6-2, 6-0.

With Duke leading, 3-0, SMU was able to get two points on the board as Stavropoulos posted a 6-3, 6-4 win over Kimchi on court four and Llewellyn notched a 6-4, 7-5 win over Hovde on court one. Jackson, a senior out of La Grange Park, Ill., once again clinched the match for the Blue Devils as she battled back from being down in both sets to post a 6-3, 7-5 win over Morris to clinch the 4-2 win. On court five, Duke's No. 125 Coleman was leading Schefke, 3-6, 6-3, 3-0, when the match was clinched.

Two of Top Freshmen to Hit the Court This Weekend
Two of the top freshmen in women's tennis will hit the court this weekend when Duke and Stanford meet up on Saturday. Blue Devil rookie Irina Balus is currently ranked 14th nationally, while Cardinal freshman Valerie Glozman is ranked No. 8. Balus owns a 15-6 overall ledger and owns an 8-4 record against ranked opponents, while Glozman owns a 25-5 record this season.

Jackson Having Career-Best Season
Duke senior Emma Jackson is having her best individual season in 2024-25 as she closes out her four-year career with the Blue Devils. She has totaled a career-best 24 singles wins, career-high eight ACC victories, 18 doubles wins and a career-high five ACC doubles victories.

She has 104 career combined singles and doubles victories.

In the Duke Record Book
Senior Emma Jackson owns 24 wins at the No. 3 singles position over her four years, which ranks tied for sixth on Duke's all-time charts. She needs one more to move into a tie for fifth along with Chalena Scholl.

With her win Sunday against SMU, Jackson moved into a tie for 19th on Duke's record book with 25 ACC career wins. She owns a 25-14 ledger tied with Christine Neuman. With her next ACC win, she will move into a tie for 17th along with Megan Miller and Kristin Sanderson. Ellie Coleman is inching closer as well with a 23-7 mark.

Both Jackson and Coleman have combined for a 14-0 record in the ACC to open the season.

ITA Rankings
In the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, Duke remained in the top 10 nationally at No. 4. Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth has led the Blue Devils into the top 10 of the ITA rankings in 21 out of the last 23 years. In six out of the last eight years, Duke has now been ranked in the top-5 nationally at one point during the season. The Blue Devils have also been ranked in the top-5 20 times over the last 25 years.

In the latest singles rankings, Duke boasted five ranked student-athletes -- Irina Balus (14), Emma Jackson (20), Eleana Yu (55), Shavit Kimchi (77), Liv Hovde (84) and Ellie Coleman (125) – along with one ranked doubles team – Ellie Coleman and Balus (17).

Earlier this spring, Balus became the eighth Blue Devil freshman to be ranked in the top 10 nationally and the first since Maria Mateas in 2019.

Ashworth Nets Another Milestone Win
Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth reached 250 ACC victories over his career with the win March 30 against SMU. He became the first ACC coach to reach 250 league wins over his career. Last year, he joined the 600-win club as well.

Match-Clinching Wins
Senior Emma Jackson has totaled five match-clinching wins so far this season and has moved her career total to 18 over her four seasons. She now ranks fourth on Duke's all-time record charts with her 18 match-clinching victories.

Ellie Coleman has totaled three match-clinching wins this season and now owns 12 match-clinching wins over her four years to rank tied for 12th at Duke.

Hovde Making Impact on Blue Devils
Head coach Jamie Ashworth added 2022 Wimbledon girls' singles champion Liv Hovde to the roster on Dec. 23 heading into the spring season and she made her 2025 debut on the road at Boston College and Syracuse. Neither of her singles matches were finished, while she won one of her double's contests in the opening weekend.

Hovde registered her first collegiate singles win at Clemson on March 9 and currently owns a 4-3 ledger on the year. She recently collected her first collegiate ranked win with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over 15th-ranked Thea Rabman of North Carolina to help the Blue Devils to a 4-2 win against the fourth-ranked Tar Heels.

A native of St. Paul, Minn., Hovde is a former No. 1 recruit nationally, while featuring an Intercollegiate Tennis Federation (ITF) career-high ranking of No. 3 and a Women's Tennis Association (WTA) career-high rankings of No. 245 in singles and No. 354 in doubles. Hovde also owns seven ITF titles.

The Head Coach
Head coach Jamie Ashworth is in his 29th season with the Blue Devils and owns an impressive 628-160 ledger. Last season, Ashworth registered his 600th victory on Jan. 20 in a 4-2 win over Illinois. He accomplished this mark in only 747 matches, becoming the quickest coach to 600 wins.

Quickest to 600 Wins – 747 games by Jamie Ashworth (Duke), 749 by Jeff Wallace (Georgia), 779 by Brian Kalbas (William & Mary/North Carolina), and 785 by Lin Loring (UC Santa Barbara/Indiana).

Ashworth became the seventh NCAA Division I coach to reach the 600-win ledger – Loring (846), Wallace (818), Kalbas (748), Jay Louderback (703), Geoff MacDonald (631), Gualberto Escudero (Pepperdine) and Ashworth (600).

Among the winningest coaches of all time, Ashworth ranks 11th with a 79.7 winning percentage, seventh with 628 wins, fourth for winningest active coaches by percentage (79.7) and second for winningest active coaches by victories.

Big Sets for Little Hearts
The Duke men's and women's tennis programs announced a partnership with the Duke Children's Hospital Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center called Big Sets for Little Hearts this past fall.

Big Sets for Little Hearts pledges will be made based on the number of sets won by the men's and women's tennis programs. Last year, both tennis teams combined for 647 sets won.

If you are interested in supporting Blue Devil tennis' partnership with Duke Children's, you can pledge for each set won during the season or make a one-time donation. Pledges start at $0.10, $0.50, $1.00 and $2.50. Based on last year's results, the smallest pledged donation would be equal to $64.70. For more information or to donate, click here.

The Duke Children's Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center is the No. 2 ranked pediatric cardiology and heart surgery program in the United States for newborns and children with congenital and acquired heart disease. The Duke Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center strives to improve their patients' outcomes and the quality of their lives.

Noting the Blue Devils

Duke's doubles team of Emma Jackson and Liv Hovde were named the Doubles Team of the Week on April 1, after posting two wins and leading Duke to wins over No. 4 UNC and No. 61 SMU.
A few Blue Devils are currently riding singles winning streak heading into the next match – Ava Krug (7), Emma Jackson (9) and Ellie Coleman (8).
Rookie Ava Krug continued her host start to her collegiate career moving to 11-2 overall and 6-0 in dual match action. She improved to 3-0 in ACC play as well.
Freshman Irina Balus has been tabbed the ACC Freshman of the Week on Feb. 18 and Jan. 28 so far this season.
Senior Ellie Coleman has now totaled the match-clinching win against three top-10 opponents – No. 10 NC State, No. 6 Michigan and No. 4 North Carolina. For her career, she owns 12 match-clinching victories.
Duke freshman Ava Krug has a couple of familiar faces around Durham this season as her brothers, Jake and Connor, are seniors on the Blue Devil men's tennis team.
The Blue Devils own a 23-17 ledger against top-10 teams over the last eight years.
Since the 2000-01 season, Duke has collected a 268-27 record at home, including a 125-17 ledger in Ambler Tennis Stadium.

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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Duke Heads West for Key ACC Road Trip at California & Stanford

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Eleana Yu

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Duke Heads West for Key ACC Road Trip at California & Stanford

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Irina Balus

Ellie Coleman

Liv Hovde

Emma Jackson

Shavit Kimchi

Ava Krug

Eleana Yu

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