Schuman Clinches Again, Duke Closes Regular Season with Win at Miami

Sunday, April 12

Coral Gables, FL

12:00 p.m.

Duke University

Miami

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Schuman Clinches Again, Duke Closes Regular Season with Win at Miami

4/12/2026 5:28:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — For the third time this week, Duke women's tennis freshman Aspen Schuman provided the match-clinching victory as the rookie registered a three-set win Sunday to give the 22nd-ranked Blue Devils a 4-2 victory on the road at 35th-ranked Miami in Coral Gables.

Duke collected the doubles point, but fell behind, 2-1, early into singles. The Blue Devils then collected singles victories by Shavit Kimchi, Irina Balus and Schuman to lift Duke to the win. Schuman, a product of Menlo Park, California, totaled her third singles win on the week as Duke improved to 17-6 overall and 10-2 in ACC play. The Hurricanes dropped to 13-6 overall and 8-4 in the ACC.

Schuman became just the 10th Blue Devil freshman to win 10 ACC regular season matches.

How It Happened

Duke came out on fire to start the match in doubles.
Once again, the Blue Devil duo of Liv Hovde and Aspen Schuman were tough on court three as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead and eventually defeated Dominika Podhajecka and Daria Volosova of Miami, 6-1.
On court one, Duke's Irina Balus and Shavit Kimchi held a 2-1 lead early and then Raquel Gonzalez and Sofia Rocchettie evened the match, 2-2. The Blue Devils reeled off four wins in a row to clinch the doubles point with a 6-2 ledger.
When the doubles point was clinched, Duke's 75th-ranked Eleana Yu and Claire An were leading Jaquelyn Ogunwale and Sebastianna Scilipoti, 5-4.
Miami came out in singles and quickly evened the score, 1-1, as Scilipoti defeated An, 6-2, 6-0, on court four.
The Hurricanes then took their first lead, 2-1, as 116th-ranked Podhajecka totaled a 6-3, 7-5 win over Duke's 123rd-ranked Yu on court six. Yu trailed the entire first set, but came back and led, 4-2 and 5-3, in the second, before Podhajecka came back to win, 7-5.
The Blue Devils evened the score, 2-2, as Kimchi totaled a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Aely Arai on court five. Kimchi, who hails from Sdey Hemed, Israel, dropped the first game in set one, but then took a 2-1 lead. With the match tied, 2-2, Kimchi won four out of the next six games to take the first set, 6-4. She then dropped the first game of the second set, but responded by winning six in a row to put another Duke point on the board.
In a top-40 ranked contest on court one, Duke's 16th-ranked Balus faced 36th-ranked Gonzalez. Balus held a 2-1 lead early, but Gonzalez won five out of the next six games to take the first set, 6-3. In the second, Balus cruised to a 6-0 victory. In the third, Balus led 2-1 and 3-2 early, but Gonzalez mounted a run, winning three games in a row to take a 5-3 lead. Balus, a native of Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, stormed back to take the next four games to win, 7-5, and give Duke a 3-2 lead.
Both Schuman and Hovde registered key tiebreaking wins in the first set on court two and three, respectively, to provide Duke with a big boost early.
Schuman won the first set, 7-6 (7-5) against 105th-ranked Rocchetti, but the Hurricanes won the second set, 6-2. In the third, Rocchetti held a 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 leads. Schuman came back to win three games in a row to go ahead, 5-3. Of the first eight games, five were decided by deuce points. Rocchetti evened the score, 5-5, on another deuce, but Schuman turned it up a notch and won two games in a row to clinch Duke's victory again with a 7-5 win.
When the match was clinched, Hovde was in the third set against Ogunwale as she was leading, 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 5-4.

Notes

Duke's doubles duo of Aspen Schuman and Liv Hovde improved to 7-0 overall and 6-0 in the ACC.
Shavit Kimchi and Irina Balus moved to 2-3 in doubles action and totaled their second ACC doubles victory.
Kimchi collected her 50th career doubles victory and 16th career ACC singles win.
Balus is now 18-8 overall and 6-2 in the ACC in singles. She now owns 10 wins against ranked opponents this season and 21 in her career. It is her 10th career top-50 victory. She is 5-3 this year in three-set matches.
Schuman moved to 15-3 overall and 10-1 in ACC action in singles. She concluded the regular season winning five matches in a row, including a pair against ranked foes. It marked her fourth win of the season against a ranked opponent. She is 4-2 this year in three-set matches.
Duke is 23-14 all-time in the series with the Hurricanes and has won three in a row.
The Blue Devils reached 10 or more wins in the ACC for the 13th time out of the last 16 years.

Quotes

"It's one of the tougher trips that we have to take every other year to come down [to Florida]. To win both at Florida State and then back it up with the win here. I'm proud of our group for how they've handled everything. I told them after, we've been getting better the last couple of weeks, and we're picking a good time to play some of our best tennis. To do it here is tough. This is not an easy place to play. I've brought some really good teams in my career here and we've gotten beat. Proud of the effort that they put in." – Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
"We played -- across the board -- the most solid doubles we've played all year -- one, two and three. We weren't relying on one match or one person or something like that. I thought all three teams played aggressive, their mindset was really good, again very disciplined and almost like methodical, like I said the other day -- we just came out and we're doing little things right with our decision making, with everything. It's good to see, as we've spent a lot of time with our doubles the last couple of weeks and it's good to see it's paying off." – Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
"Aspen gutted it out there at the end. She got up 5-3 in the third set, started cramping, started actually throwing up on the court in between points but she did a great job gutting it out. To have Liv out there. Liv was up 5-4 in the third set there at the end too. I felt like we were in a good position with the two of them out there. Irina lost a tough first set and I think she let that get behind her a little bit and didn't think about that. She played a great second set to kind of gain some momentum. Shavit's been playing well. She just hadn't had an opportunity to finish matches because of her teammates. It was just an all-around a good effort." – Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth

Next Match

Duke will open action in the ACC Championship Friday, April 17 at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary The full bracket will be released Sunday, April 12.

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

#GoDuke

#22 Duke 4, #35 Miami 2
April 12, 2026
Coral Gables, Fla. * Neil Schiff Tennis Center

Doubles
1. Irina Balus/Shavit Kimchi (DU) def. Raquel Gonzalez/Sofia Rocchetti (UM) 6-2
2. #75 Eleana Yu/Claire An (DU) vs. Jaquelyn Ogunwale/Sebastianna Scilipoti (UM) 5-4, unfinished
3. Liv Hovde/Aspen Schuman (DU) def. Dominika Podhajecka/Daria Volosova (UM) 6-1

Singles
1. #16 Irina Balus (DU) def. #36 Raquel Gonzalez (UM) 3-6, 6-0, 7-5
2. #70 Aspen Schuman (DU) vs. #105 Sofia Rocchetti (UM) 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 7-5
3. #108 Liv Hovde (DU) vs. Jaquelyn Ogunwale (UM) 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 5-4, unfinished
4. Sebastianna Scilipoti (UM) def. Claire An (DU) 6-2, 6-0
5. Shavit Kimchi (DU) def. Aely Arai (UM) 6-4, 6-1
6. #116 Dominika Podhajecka (UM) def. #123 Eleana Yu (DU) 6-3, 7-5

Order of Finish: Doubles (3,1*), Singles (4,6,5,1,2*)