No. 21 Duke Deflates No. 9 Miami, 4-3

Friday, April 6

Durham, N.C.

1:00 p.m.

Duke University

Miami

No. 21 Duke Deflates No. 9 Miami, 4-3

4/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. - The No. 21-ranked Duke women's tennis team defeated ninth-ranked Miami, 4-3, at Ambler Tennis Stadium on Friday afternoon on the strength of a three-set tiebreaker victory from freshman Amanda Granson. The Blue Devils are a perfect 6-0 on their home courts this season.

With the win, Duke improves to 10-5 (5-2 ACC) and pulls ahead in the all-time series with Miami, 8-7. The Hurricanes fall to 15-4 (6-2 ACC).

Miami came to play in doubles competition, as the 31st-ranked team of Audra Cohen and Caren Seenauth posted the first victory with an 8-5 win over senior Tory Zawacki and freshman Elizabeth Plotkin at the No. 2 spot.

Duke then bounced back with an 8-5 victory at No. 1, as the fifth-ranked duo of senior Daniela Bercek and sophomore Melissa Mang defeated the 15th-ranked pair of Audrey Banada and Romy Farah. The Blue Devils then clinched the doubles point, as Granson and sophomore Jessi Robinson posted an 8-5 win over Gina Sabatino and Laura Vallverdu at No. 3.

Miami evened the score at one all, on No.1-ranked Cohen's 6-3, 6-1 win over 59th-ranked Bercek, but Duke rebounded with senior Clelia Deltour's 6-2, 6-3 win over Seenauth at No. 6 to go up 2-1.

The Hurricanes tied it up again at two apiece, as 44th-ranked Audrey Banada defeated 75th-ranked Mang at the No. 2 spot, 6-1, 7-5. Miami then took a 3-2 lead on 14th-ranked Vallverdu's 7-5, 6-3 win over Zawacki, until Plotkin came through with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Farah at the No. 3 position to pull the Blue Devils even at 3-3.

Granson's match was the only contest of the day to go into three sets, as the freshman fell, 6-3, to Sabatino in the first set and won the second set, 6-4, to force a third. Granson found herself down 4-1 in the final set, then crept back into the match to go up 6-5, then 7-6 to force a tiebreaker. She dominated the tiebreaker, 7-2, to take the match and clinch the victory for the Blue Devils.

“Losing the last two matches, 4-3, was a real learning experience for us,” said Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth. “We have to fight all the way through the end and run through the finish line instead of just getting to that last match. Going into the match, we wanted to keep Miami on the court and make them earn every point. Miami feeds off fast matches and a lot of emotion and we took that away from them.”

Duke will square off against 17th-ranked Florida State on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. The Blue Devils will then close out the regular season on the road with matches at Wake Forest (April 11 - 5 p.m.), N.C. State (April 14 - 12 p.m.) and North Carolina (April 15 - 1 p.m.).

No. 21 Duke 4, No. 9 Miami 3
April 6, 2007 - Ambler Tennis Stadium, Durham, N.C.

Singles
1. #1 Audra Cohen (M) def. #59 Daniela Bercek (D) 6-3, 6-1
2. #44 Audrey Banada (M) def. #75 Melissa Mang (D) 6-1, 7-5
3. Elizabeth Plotkin (D) def. Romy Farah (M) 6-3, 6-4
4. Amanda Granson (D) def. Gina Sabatino (M) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)
5. #14 Laura Vallverdu (M) def. Tory Zawacki (D) 7-5, 6-3
6. Clelia Deltour (D) def. Caren Seenauth (M) 6-2, 6-3
Order of finish: 1,6,2,5,3,4*

Doubles
1. #5 D. Bercek/M. Mang (D) def. #15 A. Banada/R. Farah (M) 8-5
2. #31 A. Cohen/C. Seenauth (M) def. T. Zawacki/E. Plotkin (D) 8-5
3. Jessi Robinson/A. Granson (D) def. G. Sabatino/L. Vallverdu (M) 8-5
Order of finish: 2,1,3*

* indicates clinching match

No. 21 Duke 10-5 (5-2 ACC)
No. 9 Miami 15-4 (6-2 ACC)

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