Duke Advances To ACC Title Match With 4-2 Win Over Florida State

Saturday, April 19

Orlando, Fla.

1:00 p.m.

Duke University

Florida State (Semifinals)

Duke Advances To ACC Title Match With 4-2 Win Over Florida State

4/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. ? Second-seeded Duke defeated sixth-seeded Florida State, 4-2, on Saturday afternoon at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla., to advance to the title match of the 2008 ACC Women's Tennis Championship.

“Obviously, this is great,” said Duke Head Coach Jamie Ashworth on advancing to the ACC title match. “One of the things we talked about at the beginning of the year was changing the culture of our team. We worked hard at doing that as well as instilling more of a winning attitude, which we had lost over the last couple of years. Through some good leadership with some of our upperclassmen and a good influx of youth with our team, it has been a great ride to get back to the finals.”

Florida State won the doubles point with victories at the No. 2 and 3 spots to take a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

Carolin Walter and Federica Suess combined for an 8-3 win over junior Jessi Robinson and senior Tory Zawacki at No. 2 and the fifth-ranked Duke duo of sophomore Amanda Granson and junior Melissa Mang defeated Katie Rybakova and Rynarazewska, 8-5, at the top position. The point came down to the No. 3 match, as Jessica Wente and Lauren Macfarlane came away with a narrow 9-7 win over the Blue Devil freshman tandem of Ellah Nze and Reka Zsilinszka.

Singles play saw Robinson tie the score at 1-1 with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Suess at the No. 6 spot before Nze defeated Macfarlane, 6-4, 6-1, at No. 2 to give the Blue Devils a 2-1 advantage.

“Jessi has stepped up huge for us,” said Ashworth. “It was disappointing to lose Liz [Plotkin] earlier in the year, but Jessi has come in and done a great job. She has played with more confidence than she has ever had, which showed today. Jessi was playing a girl that had a good year in the conference and won against us in the last match. That was a big win for us momentum wise today, especially after losing the doubles point.”

Mang got past Wente, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 4 to put Duke ahead 3-1, but the Seminoles got a win from Rybakova at the top singles position to bring Florida State within one at 3-2 as sophomore Tara Iyer dropped a 6-4, 6-3 decision.

Granson then clinched the match for Duke with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Tapiwa Marobela at the No. 5 spot. The Hilton Head, S.C., also secured the match-clinching victory in Duke's quarterfinal win over Virginia (4-1).

The Blue Devils (18-3) will play fourth-seeded Clemson (14-9), which upset top-seeded Georgia Tech, 4-1, in semifinal action on Saturday, for the tournament title on Sunday. First serve is set for 11 a.m. The Lady Tigers will be seeking their first championship title since 2004 and eighth of all-time, while the Blue Devils hope to collect a league-best 16th crown and their first since 2003. The two teams have met a total of seven times in the ACC Tournament, five in the finals, with Duke holding a 3-2 edge.

“Our goal tomorrow will be the same one it has been the entire tournament ? to out-work, out-compete and to out-fight Clemson," said Ashworth. "They are a much better team than their ranking and we will have to do all three of those things really well to be successful.”

Coverage of the ACC Women's Tennis Championship will be made available on-demand every night at 8 p.m. on www.ACCSelect.com from April 17-20. For more information, visit the ACC's official championship homepage at http://www.theacc.com/genrel/08-ten-championship.html.

-duke-