Women's Tennis Cruises To 6-1 Victory Over VCU

Saturday, January 31

Durham, N.C.

10:00 a.m.

Duke University

VCU

Seven Women's Tennis Players Ranked in ITA Preseason Poll

Women's Tennis Cruises To 6-1 Victory Over VCU

1/31/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C.?The ninth-ranked Duke University women's tennis team moved one step closer to earn a spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship with a convincing 6-1 victory over No. 35 Virginia Commonwealth at the Sheffield Tennis Center. The Blue Devils are hosting one of 15 qualifying rounds for the ITA National Team Indoor Championship in Madison, Wis. on Feb. 13-16.

The Blue Devils started like gangbusters with each doubles tandem breaking VCU's opening serve and holding on their own service games to take an early 2-0 lead in each of the three matches.

Sophomore duo Reka Zsilinszka and Ellah Nze added another break for a 3-0 lead in third doubles and cruised from that point on, losing just one game in an 8-1 victory.

Senior Melissa Mang and junior Tara Iyer also went ahead 3-0 with a second break. Ana Bara and Alex Bara got on the scoreboard in the fifth game to make it a 4-1 contest. The VCU pair added three more wins, but Iyer and Mang served their way to the 8-4 win to give the Blue Devils the doubles point.

In the second slot, freshman Mallory Cecil and senior Jessi Robinson grabbed the early break before Kateryna Yergina and Olena Leonchuk were able to hold serve to make it a 2-1 match. The match remained on serve over the next two games, but Robinson and Cecil captured another break for a 5-2 advantage. They pushed it to 6-3 before the match was suspended as Duke had already garnered the one doubles point.

“It's very important [to start out strong in doubles],” Nze said. “Since Amanda [Granson] was sick we just all felt like we needed to get out to a good start and get on them really early because that makes it easier. VCU just had a close match against Clemson so we knew they're a tough team so we didn't want to feeling flat. We knew we needed to play with energy out there.”

The Blue Devils carried their momentum from doubles into the singles matches to secure the 6-1 victory. Cecil and Zsilinszka turned in dominant performances in the No. 2 and No. 4 spots, respectively. Cecil breezed past her opponent 6-1, 6-0 to give Duke another point, while Zsilinszka did not drop a single game in a 6-0, 6-0 blanking of Olena Leonchuk. Ranked 56th in the nation, Zsilinszka owns a team-best 13 wins this season and is 9-1 in her last 10 matches. Cecil is now 2-0 in her first two collegiate matches.

On Court three, Nze captured two early breaks and raced her way to a 6-0 first-set victory against Kateryna Yergina. The second set proved to be a tighter contest, but Nze prevailed again for the 6-0, 6-4 match win. Nze is now 11-4 overall in 2008-09 and 2-0 in dual matches and ranked 43rd in the nation.

Seniors Jessi Robinson and Melissa Mang closed out the match in the sixth and fifth singles spots. Robinson used a break in the seventh game of the opening set to win 6-4 and controlled the pace of the second set to capture the 6-4, 6-1 victory over Mihaela Bunea. Mang pushed her win streak to five matches as she closed out the contest with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) win. After cruising through the opening set against Laura Burns, Mang went up a break at 4-2. With Mang serving for the set at 5-3, Burns rallied to stay alive. Mang and Burns held serve as they headed into a tiebreaker to determine the match winner. Tied at 3-3 in the tiebreaker, Mang scored four straight points to win the final point for the match.

The Rams lone point on the day came from Ana Bara as Duke's Tara Iyer retired early in the second set. Bara held a 6-1, 1-0 lead at the time of retirement.

“[Our ultimate goal] is to make it to Wisconsin,” Nze said. “This year is a great opportunity because they changed the format so you have a little more control over whether you can go or not. We talked as a team about this weekend before and we know we really need to win these matches so we can have a chance to go [to Wisconsin] to play this year.”

The Blue Devils will face off against the winner of the No. 32 Ohio State vs. No. 33 South Carolina match at 2 p.m., at the Sheffield Tennis Center. The winner tomorrow moves on to Madison, Wis. on Feb. 13-16.

#9 Duke University 6, #35 Virginia Commonwealth 1
Jan 31, 2009 at Durham, N.C. (Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center)

Singles competition

1. Ana Bara (VCU) def. #18 Tara Iyer (DU) 6-1, 1-0, retired

2. Mallory Cecil (DU) def. Alex Bara (VCU) 6-1, 6-0

3. #43 Ellah Nze (DU) def. Kateryna Yergina (VCU) 6-0, 6-4

4. #56 Reka Zsilinszka (DU) def. Olena Leonchuk (VCU) 6-0, 6-0

5. Melissa Mang (DU) def. Laura Burns (VCU) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)

6. Jessi Robinson (DU) def. Mihaela Bunea (VCU) 6-4, 6-1

Doubles competition

1. Tara Iyer/Melissa Mang (DU) def. Alex Bara/Ana Bara (VCU) 8-4

2. Jessi Robinson/Mallory Cecil (DU) def. Kateryna Yergina/Olena Leonchuk (VCU) 6-3

3. Ellah Nze/Reka Zsilinszka (DU) def. Laura Burns/Mihaela Bunea (VCU) 8-1