Duke Tops Cal, 4-3, To Move To National Indoor Semifinal

Friday, February 3

Madison, Wis.

4 p.m.

Duke University

California

No. 12 Duke Has Sights On 2006 ACC Championship

Duke Tops Cal, 4-3, To Move To National Indoor Semifinal

2/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

*Score later corrected to show that match at No. 6 was retired instead of not finished. Corrected score is Duke 4, California 3

MADISON, Wis. ? The No. 13 Duke women's tennis team kept its four-meet winning streak alive Friday, defeating No. 18 California to advance to the semifinals of the USTA-ITA National Women's Tennis Team Indoor Championships at the University of Wisconsin. The Blue Devils took an early lead by winning the doubles point and came back from losing the first two singles matches to defeat Cal.

“That was an even bigger battle today than yesterday,” said head coach Jamie Ashworth. Duke was coming off a 5-2 victory over No. 8 Baylor Thursday, when four of the six singles matches went to three sets. “We just had a great team effort.”

No. 10 Daniela Bercek and Jessi Robinson cruised to an 8-3 doubles win over Susie Babos and Stephanie Kusano on the way to a Blue Devil sweep of the doubles competition. Senior Jackie Carleton and junior Kristin Cargill followed, clinching the doubles point with an 8-5 victory over Suzi Fodor and Claire Ilcinkas in the fourth straight meet the Blue Devils have secured the first point. No. 41 Jennifer Zika and Melissa Mang remained undefeated as a pair in dual matches by besting Bojana Bobusic and Marion Ravelojaona, 8-5.

“The doubles today was easily the best we have had all year,” said Ashworth. “Historically, Cal has some of the best doubles in the country, and we played unbelievable doubles at all three spots. Our goal is always to win the doubles point, but the way we won the point, I think drew Cal back a little bit. Everything we wanted to do, we did.”

Duke had a slower start in singles, where Cal earned the first two points to go up 2-1 on the Blue Devils. No. 34 Ravelojaona downed freshman Tara Iyer, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 3, and Jennifer Zika gave up a close 6-4, 7-6 (5) decision to No. 83 Ilcinkas.

With their momentum slipping away, the Blue Devils got a boost from No. 6 Bercek on court one. Bercek went down 7-5 in the first set to No. 19 Suzi Fodor but came back to win the match, 6-1, 6-3, knotting the team score at two. “Daniela lost a tough first set,” said Ashworth, “and for her to come back really picked up the rest of the team.”

Following Bercek's win, Mang kept an undefeated streak alive on court four, putting Bojana Bobusic away, 6-2, 6-3, and lifting Duke to 3-2. Playing against her second top-15 opponent in two days, No. 27 Carleton clinched the match at the second position, winning, 6-3, 7-5, against No. 14 Susie Babos. Robinson's match on court six was abandoned, leaving the score at 4-2 in Duke's favor.

Advancing to its ninth national team indoor semifinal in the past 11 trys, Duke will face No. 15 Texas at 4 p.m. EST Saturday. In the other semifinal match, No. 1 Stanford will take on No. 19 Harvard.

“Texas is a good team,” said Ashworth. “They struggled in their first couple of matches this year, but they went to the NCAA finals last year and return all of their starters. Being in the semifinals or finals of a national event isn't going to intimidate them. They have a lot of experience, and they hit the ball hard, but physically, I think we are as good as or better than any team here.”

Results
Doubles
1. #10 Daniela Bercek/Jessi Robinson def. Babos/Kusano, 8-3
2. Jackie Carleton/Kristin Cargill def. Fodor/Ilcinkas, 8-5
3. #41 Jennifer Zika/Melissa Mang def Bobusic/Ravelojaona, 8-6
Order of finish: 1,2*,3

Singles
1. #6 Daniela Bercek def. #19 Suzi Fodor, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
2. #27 Jackie Carleton def. #14 Susie Babos, 6-3, 7-5
3. #34 Marion Ravelojaona def. Tara Iyer, 6-1, 6-2
4. Melissa Mang def. Bojana Bobusic, 6-2, 6-3
5. #83 Claire Ilcinkas def. Jennifer Zika, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
6. Jessica Shu def. Jessi Robinson, 6-1, 3-2 ret.^
Order of finish: 3,5,4,1,2*

^ corrected score
*match clincher

Records: Duke 4-0, Cal 3-1

Notes: Duke lands in semifinals for 9th time in last 11 tournaments, improve to 10-4 in USTA-ITA QF play
... Cal was looking to reach semifinals for third time and first time since 2003....Duke now leads series
against Cal 5-1...Duke got wins from Daniela Bercek and Melissa Mang for the second day in a row to
help key win....Jackie Carleton clinched the match at No. 2 singles (No. 6 singles was stopped with Shu
up a set)....Duke will face Texas in Saturday's 3 p.m. semifinals....Cal will face Miami in a consolation
match at 3 p.m. (a rematch of last year's NCAA second round).

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