Blue Devils Head to Illinois for ITA National Team Indoors

#10 Ohio State (2-0) vs. #7 Duke (5-0)
Friday, Feb. 6 * 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Urbana, Ill. * Atkins Tennis Center
Live Scoring l Watch Live l National Team Indoors Info

DURHAM, N.C. – Riding a five-match winning streak to open the season, the seventh-ranked Duke women's tennis team is set to travel to Urbana, Illinois to compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Feb. 6-9 at the Atkins Tennis Center.

The fourth-seeded Blue Devils (5-0) will face the fifth-seeded and 10th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (2-0) Friday, Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m. (ET).

The Series with Ohio State
Duke and Ohio State will meet for the 12th time in program history with the Blue Devils leading the series, 8-3. The Buckeyes have won the last two meetings in 2024 and 2025. Overall, Ohio State has won three out of the last four meetings. Duke and Ohio State have met once in the National Team Indoors with Duke totaling a 4-3 win in 2019.

Duke and Ohio State are slated to play again Sunday, March 22 at 12 p.m., in Columbus.

Scouting Ohio State
Ohio State owns a 2-0 record on the season with victories against Iowa (4-0) and Virginia (4-0). The Buckeyes feature three ranked singles players – Luciana Perry (#3), Teah Chavez (#13) and Nao Nishino (#52). In doubles, OSU has Hephzibah Oluwadare/Chavez (#13), Perry/Chavez (#36), Flora Johnson/Perry (#55), Audrey Spencer/Nishino (#60) and Johnson/Nishino (#89) ranked.

Duke Versus the Big Ten
The Blue Devils own an all-time 138-31 record against Big Ten opponents – Illinois (8-1), Indiana (20-9), Iowa (2-0), Maryland (40-2), Michigan (12-3), Nebraska (2-0), Northwestern (22-5), Ohio State (8-3), Oregon (1-0), Purdue (3-0), UCLA (5-7), Southern California (3-0), Washington (4-0) and Wisconsin (8-1).

Duke Advances to ITA National Team Indoors
With a 4-0 victory over South Carolina during the ITA Kickoff Weekend, the Blue Devils advanced to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the 32nd time in program history and the first time since 2023. The Blue Devils won the event in 2003 and 2014.

Along with fourth-seeded Duke in Urbana, Illinois will be North Carolina (#1), Oklahoma (#2), Texas A&M (#3), Ohio State (#5), Vanderbilt (#6), Texas (#7) and Illinois (#8). All matches will be played at the Atkins Tennis Center and seeds are in parentheses. The winner of the Duke/Ohio State contest will face the winner of the North Carolina versus Illinois match Saturday, Feb. 7 at 4:30 p.m. (ET).

The teams seeded at the Northwestern site include Auburn (#1), Georgia (#2), LSU (#3), Oklahoma State (#4), NC State (#5), Tennessee (#6), Virginia (#7) and Northwestern (#8).

Duke features a record of 59-40 in the National Team Indoors and has won at least two matches in 24 of the 31 appearances. None of Duke's current team members have played a match in the National Team Indoors.

What is Next
Duke will have a weekend off before opening ACC action against Boston College (Feb. 20) and Syracuse (Feb. 22) in Durham. The match with the Eagles will start at 3 p.m., while the contest with the Orange opens at 12 p.m.

ITA Rankings
Duke is currently No. 7 nationally in the ITA rankings as a team.

Head coach Jamie Ashworth has guided Duke to 21 top-10 preseason rankings in his 30 seasons as the head coach of the Blue Devils. Duke has been in the preseason top-16 nationally in each of the last 30 years under Ashworth.

In singles play, Irinia Balus (#28) and Liv Hovde (#120) are ranked. Duke features three doubles teams as well with Shavit Kimchi/Hovde (#19), Eleana Yu/Claire An (#29) and Hovde/Balus (#30).

Approaching 1,000 Wins as a Program
Duke is only seven wins away from reaching 1,000 victories as a program. The Blue Devils currently feature a 993-302 ledger over the 49 years of the program. In NCAA history, only three programs have reached 1,000 wins – Stanford, Florida and Georgia. Duke will become the fourth.

Blue Devils Add Aspen Schuman for Dual Match Action
In November, Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth announced the signing of Aspen Schuman. A native of Menlo Park, California, Schuman joined the Blue Devils in January and will compete this spring.

Schuman has an Intercollegiate Tennis Federation (ITF) career high ranking of No. 31 and a Women's Tennis Association (WTA) career-best ranking of No. 931. In the Tennis Recruiting Network rankings, Schuman is listed No. 4 nationally and she has been listed as high as No. 1 in the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Girls' 18s national rankings. A six-time Junior Grand Slam main draw competitor, Schuman has won five ITF junior singles titles and is a two-time ITF W15 Tournament finalist.

Home Court Advantage
Since the 2000-01 season, Duke has collected a 278-27 record at home. Inside Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center, the Blue Devils have totaled a 48-10 ledger since opening its doors in 2000-01. Over the last 10 years, Duke owns a 71-3 record inside Sheffield. The Blue Devils currently feature a 15-match home winning streak.

Balus Earns All-America Accolades Once Again
For the second year in a row, Duke sophomore Irina Balus has earned All-America honors as she advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Championship in the fall.

Balus became just the fourth Blue Devil to earn All-America accolades in each of their first two seasons in Durham – Amanda Johnson (2001, 2002), Kelly McCain (2002, 2023) and Vanessa Webb (1996, 1997).

Balus won five out of her final seven matches to conclude the fall and owns a career singles mark of 24-16.

The Head Coach
Head coach Jamie Ashworth is in his 30th season with the Blue Devils and owns an impressive 641-162 ledger. In 2024, 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 matches 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 – Lin Loring (846), Jeff Wallace (818), Brian Kalbas (797), Jay Louderback (703), Geoff MacDonald (631), Gualberto Escudero (631) and Jamie Ashworth (636) (wins are entering the 2026 season).

Among the winningest coaches of all time, Ashworth ranks 10th with a 79.9 winning percentage, sixth with 641 wins, third for winningest active coaches by percentage (79.9) and second for winningest active coaches by victories (641).

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 in the fall of 2024.

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.

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.

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

Blue Devils Head to Illinois for ITA National Team Indoors

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Players Mentioned

Claire An

Irina Balus

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Shavit Kimchi

Aspen Schuman

Eleana Yu

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Blue Devils Head to Illinois for ITA National Team Indoors

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