DURHAM, N.C. – In a top-10 ACC women's tennis match at Amber Tennis Stadium in Durham, N.C., on Saturday afternoon, eight-ranked Duke upset fifth-ranked Florida State, 5-1, to collect its 51st straight home victory and remain unbeaten in ACC action.
Duke moved to 8-1 overall and 3-0 in the ACC, while the Seminoles fell to 9-2, 4-1.
"It was a big win," said Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth. "It's the first time that I thought we were going to be challenged in a little bit and we definitely rose to that challenge."
The Blue Devils got off to a hot start in the match by taking the crucial doubles point against the Seminoles in impressive fashion. It marked the 13th straight dual match Duke has won the doubles point.
On court 1, Duke's Meible Chi and Margaryta Bilokin won their first five games and went on to upset seventh-ranked Victoria Allen and Petra Hule, 6-1, in only 27 minutes. Chi and Bilokin improved to 7-2 on the season and won their third straight contest.
For the second straight dual match, the Blue Devil duo of Chloe Beck and Karolina Berankova went up against a doubles team with an impressive record as Florida State's Nandini Das and Andrea Garcia entered the contest with a 10-1 mark. Duke went ahead 2-0, but the Seminoles came back to even the score, 2-2. Beck and Berankova would go on to win the next two games to go ahead 4-2 and ended up with a 6-3 victory to total their ninth straight win to move to 10-1 on the season.
Over the last two matches, Beck and Berankova have knocked off doubles teams that combined to collect an 18-1 record.
Duke's Kelly Chen and Georgia Drummy were trailing, 2-4, on court three when the doubles point was clinched.
Florida State came back to start singles with a win on court six and even the match, 1-1, as Garcia improved to 13-0 this season with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Duke's 95th-ranked Berankova. A product of Prague, Czech Republic, Berankova snapped a four-match win streak to fall to 7-4. The loss by the Blue Devils broke a streak of 29 consecutive dual match points Duke had won over the last six matches.
Even though the Seminoles were able to take the first singles point, the Blue Devils took the first set on the other five courts.
After dropping the first two games on court two against 92nd-ranked Das, Duke's 28th-ranked Drummy won six out of the next seven games to take the first set, 6-3. She was able to give the Blue Devils a 2-1 lead as she closed her match with a 6-2 second set victory to improve to 10-2 on the year.
Beck, ranked 29th from Watkinsville, Ga., brought her stellar play from doubles into singles and collected her 10th win of the year with a 6-1, 6-1 ledger over Arkadianou on court No. 3.
With a 3-1 lead, the Blue Devils were able to clinch the match on court four behind a 6-3, 6-4 victory by 111th-ranked Chi over 106th-ranked Allen. Chi, who hails from Weston, Fla., trailed in both of her sets, but came back to collect her 123rd all-time singles victory to move into a tie for sixth on Duke's career win charts along with Megan Miller. Chi leads Duke with 11 singles win on the season and marked the 23rd time over her career she has clinched a Blue Devil victory.
With the win sealed for Duke, eighth-ranked Chen was in her final game on court one against 27th-ranked Pairone. Chen dropped the first game, but responded with four straight wins and won the first set, 6-3. In the second set, Chen won the first four games and cruised to a 6-1 ledger to close the match with a 5-1 team victory for Duke.
"I was really proud of our singles today," said Ashworth. "I was proud of our effort and proud of our commitment to doing the right thing and staying with what we needed to do. It was important to get off the court quickly. We have a tough match with Miami tomorrow. It was something we talked about. When we played back to back like this, we want to be even better the second day. So hopefully we're able to do that. But you know, it was a heck of an effort and I couldn't be prouder of this group today."
Duke has won 45 out of the 48 ACC matches, including 28 straight home ACC wins. The Blue Devils also collected their 27th win over the last 10 years against a top-10 ranked opponent.
"It is huge," said Chi of the victory over Florida State. "The ACC is a very strong conference and getting this win against an outdoor team in our second outdoor match, it's really big for us. To get the ball rolling and really show, even to ourselves, kind of like the affirmation that we are very good and we can compete against a top five team any day and get the win."
The Blue Devils will close the weekend with a 12 p.m., match home match against 30th-ranked Miami on Sunday, March 7.
For more information on Duke women's tennis, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeWTEN".
#GoDuke
#8 Duke 5, #5 Florida State 1
Doubles
1. Meible Chi/Margaryta Bilokin (Duke) def. #7 Victoria Allen/Petra Hule (FSU) 6-1
2. Chloe Beck/Karolina Berankova (Duke) def. Nandini Das/Andrea Garcia (FSU) 6-3
3. Kelly Chen/Georgia Drummy (Duke) vs. Anna Arkadianou/Giulia Pairone (FSU) 2-4, unfinished
Singles
1. #8 Kelly Chen (Duke) def. #27 Giulia Pairone (FSU) 6-3, 6-1
2. #28 Georgia Drummy (Duke) def. #92 Nandini Das (FSU) 6-3, 6-2
3. #29 Chloe Beck (Duke) def. Anna Arkadianou (FSU) 6-1, 6-1
4. #111 Meible Chi (Duke) def. #106 Victoria Allen (FSU) 6-3, 6-4
5. #44 Margaryta Bilokin (Duke) vs. Petra Hule (FSU) 6-1, 3-6, unfinished
6. Andrea Garcia (FSU) def. #95 Karolina Berankova (Duke) 6-2, 6-0
Finish:
Doubles – 1, 2
Singles – 6, 2, 3, 4, 1
"8" - Google News
March 07, 2021 at 04:39AM
https://ift.tt/38hOnyj
No. 8 Duke Defeats No. 5 FSU in Key Top 10 ACC Matchup - Duke University - GoDuke.com
"8" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2z1PBPz
https://ift.tt/3c1rzCJ
No comments:
Post a Comment