No. 14 Blue Devils Roll Over No. 24 Tigers, 6-1

Saturday, April 8

Durham, N.C.

1 p.m.

Duke University

Clemson

No. 14 Blue Devils Roll Over No. 24 Tigers, 6-1

4/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM -- Duke posted its seventh win of the season over a Top-25 opponent, cruising past No. 24 Clemson, 6-1, Saturday at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. For the third time this season and the second since they played Virginia Tech on March 26, the Blue Devils swept all three doubles positions to open the match. From there, Duke picked up wins on courts four, six and three to seal a 4-0 victory and eventually finished 6-1. Duke improves to 14-5 and 7-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, while Clemson falls to 12-6, 5-3 in the ACC.

Senior Jackie Carleton and freshman Melissa Mang notched their second victory over a ranked team in three contests by downing No. 56 Daniela Alvarez and Alexandra Luc, 8-1, on court two. In their last ranked win, Carleton and Mang put away the No. 54 Maryland tandem of Michal Amir and Jennifer Dent by another larger margin, 8-2.

Freshmen Tara Iyer and Jessi Robinson won their second straight match together at No. 3. The pair was up as much as 6-3 before the Clemson duo of Maria Brito and Maria Scriba staked a comeback, pushing the score to 7-4 and then 7-6. Iyer and Robinson prevailed, however, winning the last game to take the match, 8-6, and capturing the doubles point, which Duke had been unable to win in four of its last six matches.

Juniors Daniela Bercek and Jennifer Zika put up another hard fight on the top court against the ninth-ranked team in the country, rebounding from a 3-0 deficit to win two straight games and split the next pair, making the score 4-3 in Carol Salge and Federica van Adrichem's favor. After the Clemson pair held a 5-4 advantage, Bercek and Zika finally broke through to take a slim lead at 6-5. The four players battled it out, eventually pushing the match into a tiebreaker, which the Blue Devils won, 7-4.

After the doubles point had been won and Bercek and Zika had pulled out their thriller to win a third match, Duke played out its momentum in singles, winning the first set at every position. No. 70 Iyer and No. 103 Clelia Deltour won easy matches at No. 4 -- 6-1, 6-0 -- and No. 6 -- 6-0, 6-1 -- and Duke quickly held a 3-0 lead.

No. 109 Mang clinched the Blue Devil victory, producing her fifth straight singles win and second upset in five matches by topping No. 54 van Adrichem, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 3. Mang improved to 17-2 in dual matches while garnering her 25th singles win overall.

After Mang's clincher, the rest of the matches rapidly ended. Robinson, up 2-1 in her third set against Luc, retired, and the Tigers captured their only point of the day. Minutes later, Bercek topped Salge, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 1, and Carleton defeated Alvarez, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 2.

The Blue Devils now have three players who own at least 20 singles victories in 2005-06: Mang (25), Carleton (22) and Bercek (20). Head coach Jamie Ashworth, in his 10th year with the Duke program, won his 70th regular-season conference match Saturday and boasts the second-highest number of ACC victories in league history behind Clemson's Andy Johnston, who coached for 15 years (1983-97) and compiled 83 wins.

Duke concludes its home schedule Sunday at noon against No. 12 Georgia Tech. Seniors Lauren Archer and Jackie Carleton will be honored at their last Duke home meet.

Results
Doubles
1. Daniela Bercek/Jennifer Zika (D) def. #9 Carol Salge/Federica van Adrichem (C), 9-8 (7-4)
2. Jackie Carleton/Melissa Mang (D) def. #56 Daniela Alvarez/Alexandra Luc (C), 8-1
3. Tara Iyer/Jessi Robinson (D) def. Maria Brito/Maria Scriba (C), 8-6
Order: 2,3*,1

Singles
1. #6 Daniela Bercek (D) def. Carol Salge (C), 6-4, 6-3
2. #29 Jackie Carleton (D) def. Daniela Alvarez (C), 6-4, 6-2
3. #109 Melissa Mang (D) def. #54 Federica van Adrichem (C), 6-2, 6-1
4. #70 Tara Iyer (D) def. Maria Brito (C), 6-1, 6-0
5. Alexandra Luc (C) def. Jessi Robinson (D), 3-6, 6-2, 1-2 (ret.)
6. #103 Clelia Deltour (D) def. Kathi Garber (C), 6-0, 6-1