Blue Devils Fall, 4-3, In Sweet 16 To Virginia Commonwealth

Thursday, May 16

Palo Alto, Calif.

TBA

Duke University

Virginia Comm.

Blue Devils Fall, 4-3, In Sweet 16 To Virginia Commonwealth

5/16/2002 1:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

May 16, 2002

PALO ALTO, CALIF. - The fourth-ranked and fifth-seeded Duke women's tennis team fell 4-3 on Thursday to 24th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament at the West Campus Courts in Palo Alto, Calif.

The Blue Devils began the match with a bang winning the doubles point to take a 1-0 advantage. Duke's number one duo of Kelly McCain/Hillary Adams cruised to an 8-1 victory over Andrea Ondrisova/Martina Nedelkova and the Blue Devil tandem of Katie Granson/Prim Siripipat defeated Christina Gago/Jana Carollo (8-2) at the third slot.

Duke's singles lineup then was changed as Blue Devil head coach Jamie Ashworth was forced to pull sophomore All-America Amanda Johnson after doubles as she is still recovering from mononucleosis. Johnson normally plays number two singles so everyone else was moved up in the lineup.

VCU came back and got off to a hot start winning the first set in four of the six singles matches. At the second position, 39th-ranked Martina Nedelkova downed Duke's 35th-ranked Julie DeRoo (6-2, 6-1) to even the match, 1-1. The Blue Devils then took a 2-1 lead as Granson knocked off Gago (6-2, 6-2) at number five.

The Rams came back at number three as Silvia Urickova downed senior Ioana Plesu, 6-1, 6-4 to even the match again, 2-2. Duke's Adams put the Blue Devils back on top with a 7-6, 6-1 victory over Carollo at the sixth position, with two singles matches remaining.

In the featured match at number one, Virginia Commonwealth's 38th-ranked Ondrisova took the match 6-4, 6-4 over fifth-ranked McCain to once again even the match. Ondrisova improved to 19-0 on the season, while McCain lost only her fourth dual match of the season.

The match came down to the number four court with Duke's Saras Arasu and VCU's Barbora Zahnova. Zahnova won the first set 6-4 before Arasu made a run of her own coming back from down 5-4 in the second set to take a 6-5 advantage. Zahnova would not let down as she ended up taking the second set 7-6 in the tiebreaker to clinch the victory for VCU.

Duke concludes the season with a 25-5 record, while VCU improves to 19-2. VCU will next play 14th-ranked Tennessee, which upset sixth-ranked Vanderbilt on Thursday (4-2). The Blue Devils still have McCain, Johnson and DeRoo left to play in the NCAA individual singles tournament along with McCain/Adams and Johnson/DeRoo in the doubles tournament beginning Monday, May 21 at Stanford.

Duke Head Coach Jamie Ashworth Post Match Comments
"We played defensive. We went through the whole year and lost five matches and all five were down to the last match. I think in those matches some were good matches and I think like today we played defensive."

"I think today we put Saras in a tough position as a freshman never being in that position before. I think she was one of several players that played off their back foot today. I told them it is a bad time of the year to play our worst match of the year, especially after winning the doubles point. We had the momentum and we just let them get back into it. It is always hard to lose like that because you want to be playing your best tennis at this time of the year."

"I told them not having Amanda (Johnson) is not an excuse. We still have players that can play and should be able to step up or else they wouldn't be in our program. I don't think we did that today."

Singles
1. #38 Andrea Ondrisova (VCU) def. #5 Kelly McCain  6-4, 6-4
2. #39 Martina Nedelkova (VCU)  def. #35 Julie DeRoo  6-3, 6-1
3. Silvia Urickova (VCU) def. Ioana Plesu 6-1, 6-4
4. Barbora Zahnova (VCU) def. #63 Saras Arasu  6-4, 7-6
5. Katie Granson def. Christina Gago (VCU)  6-2, 6-2
6. Hillary Adams def. Jana Carollo (VCU)  7-6, 6-1

Doubles
1. #26 Hillary Adams/Kelly McCain def. #25 Andrea Ondrisova/Martina Nedelkova (VCU) 8-1
2. #35 Amanda Johnson/Julie DeRoo (DU) vs. Barbora Zahnova/Silvia Urickova (VCU) DNF
3. Katie Granson/Prim Siripipat (DU) def. Christina Gago/Jana Carollo (VCU) 8-2