Blue Devils Total 4-3 Win Wednesday Versus No. 14 NC State

Wednesday, April 8

Cary, NC

4:00 p.m.

Duke University

NC State

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devils Total 4-3 Win Wednesday Versus No. 14 NC State

4/8/2026 9:38:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

CARY, N.C. — Freshman Aspen Schuman registered the clinching point Wednesday as the 22nd-ranked Duke women's tennis team registered a thrilling, 4-3, victory over 14th-ranked NC State at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary.

The Blue Devils won the doubles point for the third match in a row and then earned singles wins by Irina Balus, Eleana Yu and Aspen Schuman. Schuman collected her highest ranked win of her collegiate career against 46th-ranked Gabriella Broadfoot for the clincher. Duke improved to 15-6 overall, while NC State dropped to 18-6.

How It Happened

On court one, Duke's duo of Irina Balus and Shavit Kimchi fell to second-ranked Gabriella Broadfoot and Victoria Osuigwe, 6-0.
On court three, the Blue Devil duo of Liv Hovde and Aspen Schuman were in a battle with Mia Slama and Lavinia Tanasie until the break at 3-2. Duke won three games in a row, sealing the set with a love hold for 6-2.
Duke's 75th-ranked Eleana Yu and Claire An took court two facing Anna Zyryanova and Amelie Smejkalova. Yu and An jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but NC State came back and held the rest of the match. Duke had a huge hold to keep the break and get to 5-3, after starting down 0-30. NC State responded with a big deuce point to hold for 5-4. Duke finished the set off on serve, winning 6-4 and securing the doubles point.
NC State came out in singles and evened the score, 1-1, as Zyryanova totaled a 6-2, 6-0 win over Hovde on court three.
The Blue Devils went down, 2-1, after Kimchi fell to Osuigwe on court five, 6-3, 6-3.
Duke's 16th-ranked Balus had a tight first set with 39th-ranked Slama on court one. With the match tied, 3-3, in the first set, Balus broke to go ahead, 4-3. Balus led again at 5-3, and 5-4 but Slama came back to break and tie the set at 5-5. Balus immediately broke back to go up 6-5 and held serve to win the first set 7-5. In the second set, Balus got off to a hot start going up 4-0. Slama held to get on the board, but Balus was able to win the next two games, winning the set, 6-2. Balus, who hails from Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, totaled her ninth ranked win of the season and 20th of her career.
On court six, Yu ran off with the first set against Smejkalova, taking it 6-0. Smejkalova won the first two games of the second set, but Yu broke back to get to 2-1. Both held serve until 6-6. Yu started off the tiebreak on fire, going up 4-0. Smejkalova got the score to 4-1 before Yu won the next three points, taking the set 7-6 and putting Duke up 3-2.
An battled 65-ranked Tanasie, falling 6-4, 6-3, which tied the team score at 3-3.
Schuman, a Duke rookie ranked who is ranked No. 70 nationally, faced Broadfoot on court two. After Schuman broke back when Broadfoot served for the set at 5-4, Schuman sent the first set to a tiebreaker, where she dropped, 7-5. Schuman, who is from Menlo Park, California, rebounded by winning the second set 6-3, right as the team score tied at 3-3. In the third, Schuman jumped out to a 2-0 lead and led 5-1. Broadfoot held for 5-2, but Schuman came back to serve out the match, clinched the third set 6-2, and the team win, 4-3.

Notes

This was Duke's first deciding match win of the season
Liv Hovde and Aspen Schuman are now 5-0 playing together in doubles and 5-0 in ACC action. They totaled their first win against a ranked opponent Saturday.
Schuman moved to 13-3 overall and 9-1 in ACC play on the year in singles. Schuman recorded her highest ranked win against 46^th-ranked Gabriella Broadfoot
Irina Balus is now 17-8 overall and 6-2 in ACC play

Quotes

"Yeah, I mean, it started with some really good doubles at two and three. I thought that we played smart. I thought we played composed doubles, even the one we lost at one, we lost 6-0, but we a couple of the games there, we had opportunities. But I thought that we were very composed, and we didn't let the moment get too big for us. Especially at two when it came down to that match. I thought we just continued to play on, and we didn't think about the situation. We just played tennis. And then, singles, I mean, obviously, we know it's going to be a fight every time we play NC State it is a 4-3 match. Aspen, you have a freshman who's never been in such a situation, who's been in school for three months in your program, and it's a lot of pressure on you. She held her own there. She was composed, she didn't let the moment get too big and just played every game. I'm proud of her for that and that effort. But overall, just a match we needed. We haven't had a big win this year and to get this one here was huge heading into the weekend and the ACC Tournament." – Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
"I thought she served well in the big moments. She stayed true to what she does well, serve and attacking with her groundstrokes. But again, it was more in her head. Because in that situation, you can let the moment get to you and she really didn't. She stayed strong mentally and just played each point and valued each point. It wasn't like, okay, it's whatever, 5-3 or 5-1. I have to play this point differently. I think she just played true to what she does well and did a good job of that." – Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth on the play of Aspen Schuman

Next Match

Duke will next face Florida State Friday, April 10 at 4 p.m., in Tallahassee, Florida at the Scott Speicher Memorial Tennis Center

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 3, #14 NC State 3
April 8, 2026
Cary , N.C. * Cary Tennis Park

Doubles
1. #2 Gabriella Broadfoot/Victoria Osuigwe (NC State) def. Irina Balus/Shavit Kimchi (DU) 6-0
2. #75 Eleana Yu/Claire An (DU) def. Anna Zyryanova/Amelie Smejkalova (NC State) 6-4
3. Liv Hovde/Aspen Schuman (DU) def. Mia Slama/Lavinia Tanasie (NC State) 6-2

Singles
1. #16 Irina Balus (DU) def. #39 Mia Slama (NC State) 7-5, 6-1
2. #70 Aspen Schuman (DU) vs. #46 Gabriella Broadfoot (NC State)
3. #53 Anna Zyryanova (NC State) def. #108 Liv Hovde (DU) 6-2, 6-0
4. #65 Lavinia Tanasie def. Claire An (DU) 4-6, 3-6
5. Victoria Osuigwe (NC State) def. Shavit Kimchi (DU) 6-3, 6-3
6. #123 Eleana Yu (DU) def. Amelie Smejkalova (NC State) 6-0, 7-6

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