Duke Drops Consolation Match to Vanderbilt

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Charlottesville, Va.

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Duke Drops Consolation Match to Vanderbilt

2/7/2015 5:41:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The fourth-ranked Duke women's tennis team dropped its first consolation match of the weekend, falling to 11th-ranked Vanderbilt, 4-1, in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday.

For just the second match this season, the Blue Devils (4-2) lost the doubles point, trailing 1-0 at the outset. The Duke tandem of senior Annie Mulholland and freshman Samantha Harris once again led the Blue Devils off the courts after defeating Vanderbilt's team of Frances Altick and Astra Sharma, 6-3, on court three. The two doubles pairs remained tied at 3-3 to start the match before Mulholland and Harris won three straight to earn their sixth win of the season. The pair has not dropped a dual match this season, owning a record of 3-0 in such contests.

Vanderbilt and Duke sat tied at 3-3 on courts one and two in the early stages of the matches. Redshirt senior Rachel Kahan and junior Beatrice Capra were unable to close out their match against Vanderbilt's Ashleigh Antal and Marie Casares on court two, with the Commodore duo winning three straight to hand the Duke tandem its second loss of the season.

On court one, senior Ester Goldfeld and sophomore Alyssa Smith dropped two straight games against the 32nd-ranked pair of Courtney Colton and Sydney Campbell, before pulling within one to trail, 4-5. The pair of Colton and Campbell concluded the match by winning the final game. As a pair, Goldfeld and Smith fall to 6-5 on the season and 2-3 in dual matches.

Duke was unable to bounce back in singles after dropping the doubles point.

In a matchup between two ranked opponents, 87th-ranked Goldfeld faced 15th-ranked Sydney Campbell on court one. Goldfeld fell behind early in the match and was unable to recover, falling, 2-6, 1-6. Goldfeld now owns an overall record of 14-8 and a 4-2 mark in dual matches this year.

Mulholland returned to the singles courts Saturday in dominant fashion, defeating her opponent, Georgina Sellyn, 6-4, 6-1, to earn her fourth dual match win of the year. Mulholland closed strong in the first set, winning two straight to earn a first-set lead. The momentum from Mulholland's first set carried into the second. With the second set sitting at 2-1, Mulholland won four straight to take the set and the victory.

With the Mulholland win, Duke trailed 3-1, but the Blue Devils were unable to rally. On court two, 55th-ranked Harris found herself in a tight contest with Colton, but ultimately suffered her second dual match defeat of the season with a 4-6, 6-7 (12-14) loss. After dropping the first set, Harris took a 5-1 second-set advantage. The Melbourne, Australia, native was unable to close out the set, however, with Colton battling back to eventually bring the set even to 6-6. In the tiebreak, the two were tied numerous times, including at 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, 9-9 and 11-11, but with the match knotted at 12-12, Colton won two consecutive points to clinch the match.

The match on court four between freshman Rebecca Smaller and Sharma was abandoned, with Smaller trailing, 6-7 (5-7), 5-5. The contest on court five between Smith and 77th-ranked Marie Casares was also abandoned, with Smith leading, 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 3-2.

The Blue Devils return to action Sunday, facing No. 7 Alabama in each team's second consolation match of the weekend. The contest begins at 9 a.m.

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