Blue Devils Advance to NCAA Round of 16 With 4-0 Win Against FAU

Saturday, May 3

Durham, N.C.

4 pm

Duke University

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devils Advance to NCAA Round of 16 With 4-0 Win Against FAU

5/3/2025 9:25:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Coleman Interview Ashworth Interview Photo Gallery Box Score (PDF)

DURHAM, N.C. – For the 29th time in program history, the Duke women's tennis team has advanced to the NCAA Tournament round of 16 as the eighth-seeded Blue Devils registered a 4-0 victory over 27th-ranked Florida Atlantic on Saturday evening at Ambler Tennis Stadium.

With the win, Duke improved to 23-3 overall, while the Owls dropped to 17-2. The Blue Devils won the doubles point, while earning singles wins by senior Emma Jackson, senior Ellie Coleman and sophomore Shavit Kimchi. Over the first two wins of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, six different Duke student-athletes won singles matches.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke's doubles team of Emma Jackson and Liv Hovde continued their outstanding play on court three as the Blue Devils registered a 6-3 victory over Panna Bartha and Alexandra Silna. The Blue Devils were tied, 1-1, before winning three games in a row to take a 4-1 advantage.Duke then finished the match winning, 6-3.
On court one, Florida Atlantic's Lara Smejkal and Malwina Rowinska collected a 6-3 victory over Duke's 20th-ranked Irina Balus and Ellie Coleman. The Blue Devils were tied, 1-1, and 2-2, but the Owls won four out of the next five games to win, 6-3.
The doubles point came down to court two with Duke's Shavit Kimchi and Ava Krug against Victoria Gomez Ohayon and Millie Mae Matthews. The Owls jumped out to a 2-0 lead.Krug registered a key ace on a deuce point to put Duke on the board, 2-1. The Blue Devils went on to take a 3-2 lead. The teams held serve for the next five games to even the score, 5-5. Florida Atlantic broke Kimchi and Krug to go ahead, 6-5. Duke then returned the favor to even the score, 6-6.
In the tiebreaker, Florida Atlantic led 2-1, but the Blue Devils came back to win three in a row to take a 4-2 lead.After the Owls evened the score, 4-4, Kimchi served an ace to give Duke a 5-4 lead. Kimchi then finished off the final two points to take the tiebreaker, 7-4, and give the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead.
Duke came out in singles and won the first set on four of the six courts.
On court five, Kimchi fell behind, 3-1, to Silna, but responded by winning the next 10 games to win the first set, 6-3, and take a 5-0 lead in the second. Kimchi, who is ranked No. 95 nationally, won the second set, 6-1, to put Duke ahead, 2-0.
The Blue Devils then went ahead, 3-0, as 25th-ranked Jackson battled Smejkal on court three.After falling behind, 2-0, Jackson won three games in a row to go ahead, 3-2.Smejkal had a run of her own winning the next two games to regain the lead, 4-3. Jackson, a native of La Grange Park, Ill., registered a break to even the score, 4-4. With the match tied, 5-5, Jackson pulled through with winning the next two games, including a break to win, 7-5. In the second set, Jackson never trailed en route to winning, 6-3.
Coleman, a senior from Midland, Mich., closed the match on court six with a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Matthews for the 4-0 victory.
When the match was clinched, 26th-ranked Balus was heading to a tiebreaker in the second set on court two against Bartha, 6-3, 6-6. Both Hovde and Eleana Yu came back to win the second set, after dropping the first on courts one and four, respectively.

NOTES

The Blue Devils advanced to the round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the 29th time in program history.
Duke improved to 36-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament action in Durham over the history of the program.
Head coach Jamie Ashworth won his 71st match in NCAA Tournament action, while Duke now owns 83 all-time victories.
Shavit Kimchi and Ava Krug improved to 7-6 on the season in doubles action and won their first career NCAA Tournament contest together.
Duke's doubles duo of Emma Jackson and Liv Hovde won their 14th-straight match to move to 15-1 on the year.
Jackson collected her 27th singles win of the season to move to 27-10 and 89-50 over her collegiate career.
Ellie Coleman improved to 24-6 overall on the year and 82-38 in her singles career. She has now won 14-straight singles matches. Coleman is now 10-0 on the season at the No. 6 slot.
Kimchi totaled her 20th singles win of the season to improve to 20-10 overall and 11-1 at the No. 5 singles slot.
In NCAA Tournament singles action, Jackson is now 4-1, Coleman improved to 4-2 and Kimchi is now 2-1.
Coleman clinched the match for the fifth time this season and the 14th time in her career. Her 14 match-clinching wins ranks tied for 11th on Duke's all-time charts.

QUOTES

"They [FAU] had a good year and they've beaten some quality teams - a win over Miami, a win over Central Florida, who's a really good team. A team, obviously we don't see a lot, so really didn't know what to expect. I was just telling them it was like a slow, methodical match. We came through won 4-0.Obviously had match points in other spots, but I thought it was a very just methodical match. We did what we needed to do to win, gained a little bit of confidence in some of those singles matches. These guys are excited to be able to keep playing together." - Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
"We have a tough match with Auburn. They beat us last year in the ITA Kickoff Weekend in the Indoor Qualifying. But like I said, we've earned the opportunity and earned the right to be here. So, we worked hard to be able to play that match Friday night in Durham and looking forward to it." - Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
"Yeah, it's super exciting. It's definitely something we've talked about that we haven't made it here in a couple years. The last time we did make it was Emma and I freshman year. So, we've been very vocal about like, 'hey, we have a team that's capable of this if we go and play our tennis we'll be able to accomplish great things and even further than the super regional on Friday.' We're super happy to have achieved the privilege to host here and have the home court advantage." - Duke senior Ellie Coleman

NEXT MATCH

Duke will next host ninth-ranked Auburn on Friday, May 9 at 5 p.m., in the NCAA Round of 16.

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

#GoDuke

#8 Duke 4, #27 Florida Atlantic 0
May 3, 2025
Ambler Tennis Stadium * Durham, N.C.

Doubles
1. Lara Smejkal/Malwina Rowinska (FAU) def. #20 Irina Balus/Ellie Coleman (DUKE) 6-3
2. Shavit Kimchi/Ava Krug (DUKE) def. Victoria Gomez Ohayon/Millie Mae Matthews (FAU) 7-6 (7-4)
3. Liv Hovde/Emma Jackson (DUKE) def. Panna Bartha/Alexandra Silna (FAU) 6-3

Singles
1. #61 Liv Hovde (DUKE) vs. Victoria Gomez Ohayon (FAU) 3-6, 6-2, 0-3 unfinished
2. #26 Irina Balus (DUKE) vs. Panna Bartha (FAU) 6-3, 6-6 unfinished
3. #25 Emma Jackson (DUKE) def. Lara Smejkal (FAU) 7-5, 6-3
4. #72 Eleana Yu (DUKE) vs. Malwina Rowinska (FAU) 3-6, 6-0, 0-1 unfinished
5. #95 Shavit Kimchi (DUKE) def. Alexandra Silna (FAU) 6-3, 6-1
6. #98 Ellie Coleman (DUKE) def. Millie Mae Matthews (FAU) 6-3, 6-3
Order of Finish: Doubles (3,1,2*), Singles (5,3,6*)