Blue Devils & Wolfpack Meet in Cary for Women’s Tennis Match Wednesday

Wednesday, April 8

Cary, NC

4:00 p.m.

Duke University

NC State

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devils & Wolfpack Meet in Cary for Women’s Tennis Match Wednesday

4/7/2026 1:46:00 PM | Women's Tennis

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke and NC State women's tennis teams will meet Wednesday, April 8 in a non-conference matchup at Cary Tennis Park in Cary as the team's head into the final week of the regular season. The match starts at 4 p.m., and will be free admission for all fans.

The Blue Devils enter the week with a 14-6 overall and 8-2 ACC mark, while being ranked No. 22 nationally. The Wolfpack are ranked No. 14 with an 18-5 overall and 9-1 ACC ledger.

The Series with NC State
Duke and NC State will meet for the 70th time in program history with the Blue Devils leading the series, 67-2. The Blue Devils have won five in a row in the series with the only two losses coming in 2021 and 2007. Duke is 3-0 in matches contested in Cary with wins coming in 2005, 2012 and 2018. Blue Devil head coach Jamie Ashworth owns a 34-2 record against the Wolfpack. Each of the last five dual matches with Duke and NC State have been in favor of the Blue Devils with a 4-3 score. Shavit Kimchi owns a 2-0 dual match record against NC State.

Scouting NC State
NC State enters the match with an 18-5 overall and 9-1 ACC ledger. The Wolfpack have won eight contests in a row and are ranked No. 14 nationally as a team. In singles action, Mia Slama (#39), Gabriella Broadfoot (#46), Anna Zyryanova (#53) and Lavinia Tanasie (#65) are ranked nationally. Broadfoot and Victoria Osuigwe are ranked No. 2 in doubles, while Zyryanova and Jasmine Conway are also ranked No. 70.

What is Next
Duke will travel to the state of Florida to face Florida State (April 10) and Miami (April 12) to close the regular season slate.

ITA Rankings
Duke is currently No. 22 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, Irina Balus (#16) and Aspen Schuman (#70) are ranked. Duke features three doubles teams as well with Shavit Kimchi/Liv Hovde (#39), Hovde/Balus (#48) and Eleana Yu/Claire An (#75).

Duke Reaches 1,000 Wins as a Program
Duke registered its 1,000th victory as a program Sunday, March 29 as the Blue Devils posted a 4-0 victory over Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. The Blue Devils currently feature a 1002-308 ledger over the 49 years of the program. In NCAA history, Duke became the fourth program to collect 1,000 wins – Stanford, Florida and Georgia.

Various Duke Notes

Freshman Claire An recently registered both match-clinching wins against Boston College and Syracuse. They were the first two match-clinching victories of her career. An added another clinching match against Georgia Tech as well. She also notched her first win against a ranked singles opponent April 1 with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over No. 111 Anna Frey of North Carolina. An has won seven matches in a row to collect a 13-4 overall and 6-0 ACC mark.
Katie Codd totaled her eighth career match-clinching win against Virginia Tech. She has clinched three so far this season.
Shavit Kimchi owns 12 match-clinching wins in her career which ranks tied for 12th on Duke's all-time charts (Stats only available from 2005-06 to present)
Irina Balus (16), Liv Hovde (13), Claire An (13) and Aspen Schuman (12) lead Duke with double-digit singles wins on the season.
In just two seasons, Liv Hovde has totaled a 38-9 overall, 29-7 dual match and 18-2 ACC record in doubles play.
Freshman Aspen Schuman has opened her collegiate career with a 12-3 overall and 8-1 ACC ledger in singles action. In doubles play, Schuman is 10-4 overall and 7-1 in ACC play.
Schuman and Hovde have teamed together recently in doubles and have logged a 4-0 overall and 4-0 ACC mark playing the No. 2 and No. 3 slot. They totaled their first win against a ranked opponent over the weekend defeating 90th-ranked Neilson-Gatenb/Cisovska of Clemson.
Duke sophomore Irina Balus registered a win over Texas' second-ranked Carmen Andreea Herea, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-4, in the National Team Indoors. It marked the highest ranked win of her collegiate career. Balus has totaled eight wins against ranked opponents in 2025-26 and 19 at Duke.

Freshmen Impact
Claire An and Aspen Schuman have combined to open their collegiate careers with a 21-4 dual match record and 25-7 overall ledger. They are 14-1 in ACC action.

Doubles Team Nets Honor
The Duke tandem of Liv Hovde and Shavit Kimchi were named the ACC Doubles Team of the Week on Feb. 10, following the National Team Indoors.

Hovde and Kimchi collected a 2-1 record at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Team Indoors at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana, Illinois. The duo registered their first two ranked wins as the Blue Devils defeated Ohio State's 13th-ranked Hephzibah Oluwadare and Teah Chavez, 7-6 (7-2), and also knocked off 59th-ranked Tess Bucher and Alice Xu, 7-6 (7-3).

Hovde and Kimchi also advanced to the round of 16 at the NCAA Doubles Championship in the fall.

Balus Earns PNC Achievers Award
Duke women's tennis sophomore Irina Balus and fencing junior Dayaal Singh were named PNC Achievers of the Year for the 2024-25 campaign and were recognized at the Duke men's basketball game Feb. 14.

Since arriving on campus, Balus has made an immediate impact on the Duke women's tennis team. She is coming off a 2025 campaign where she earned ITA All-America honors, received as high as a No. 8 national ranking in singles and No. 8 in doubles and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Championship. Balus, a native of Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, helped lead Duke to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Team Championship this past May.

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.

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.

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).

The Head Coach
Head coach Jamie Ashworth is in his 30th season with the Blue Devils and owns an impressive 650-167 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 entering the 2026 season).

Among the winningest coaches of all time, Ashworth ranks 10th with a 79.5 winning percentage, sixth with 650 wins, third for winningest active coaches by percentage (79.5) and second for winningest active coaches by victories (650).

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".

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