Duke Outlasts Syracuse on the Road, 4-3

Sunday, March 8

Syracuse, N.Y.

12:00 PM

Duke University

Syracuse

Duke Outlasts Syracuse on the Road, 4-3

3/8/2015 5:45:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The 21st-ranked Duke women's tennis team moved to 4-0 in conference play this season after defeating 67th-ranked Syracuse, 4-3, in Syracuse N.Y., Sunday. Duke opens ACC competition 4-0 for the fifth time in six years and sits at 8-5 on the season.

“[Rebecca Smaller] did a good job of coming in and playing three doubles for us,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “Even the one doubles, which we lost, was a good doubles match. Rachel [Kahan] and Beatrice [Capra] played well. We played smart doubles again, so that was good to see.”

Duke took a 1-0 lead for the fourth consecutive match after earning victories on two of the three doubles courts.

The Duke tandem of redshirt senior Rachel Kahan and junior Beatrice Capra improved to 4-3 on the year with an 8-3 victory over Syracuse's Amanda Rodgers and Nicole Mitchell. Kahan and Capra never trailed in the match, taking a 3-0 lead from the outset. Although Rodgers and Mitchell would pull within two games after bringing the contest to 5-3, the Duke duo won three straight matches to close out and lead the Blue Devils off the courts.

The doubles point would be clinched by the team of senior Ester Goldfeld and freshman Rebecca Smaller, with the momentum of an early 2-1 advantage leading to an 8-4 decision over the Syracuse tandem of Rhiann Newborn and Breanna Bachini. The victory is the seventh of the year for Goldfeld and Smith.

On court one, senior Annie Mulholland and freshman Samantha Harris dropped just their second doubles dual match of the season after falling to Safdar and Salazar, 5-8. Mulholland and Harris now sit at 9-3 overall this year.

Duke secured the team's fourth conference win with singles victories on courts two, four and six.

Mulholland moved the team score to 2-0 after defeating Messineo, 6-0, 6-1 on court six. Mulholland is 7-2 in dual match play this season with the win, and 5-1 when playing at the No. 6 position.

On court two, Goldfeld, the 51st-ranked singles player in the nation, moved to within three wins of becoming the 24th player in Duke history to reach 100 career singles victories after defeating Salazar, 6-2, 6-2. Goldfeld is a near-perfect 5-1 at the No. 2 position this season after Sunday's result.

Kahan, the 86th-ranked singles player in the nation, clinched the win for the Blue Devils after defeating Bachini, 6-4, 6-2, on court four. Kahan closed out the weekend with a 2-0 record and moved to 12-12 on the year.

“Rachel did a good job of grinding out the match,” Ashworth said. “She competed well. We have to be able to do that, to grind through some matches and some wins when we're not playing our best. Syracuse competed really well, especially on their court. It's one of the toughest places we've ever had to play a match. It's dark and the courts are really fast. It's a tough place to play. I think we did a good job to get up 4-1 and get a relatively quick win.”

The Orange were able to earn singles wins on courts one, three and five, as Rodgers defeated Capra, 4-6, 5-7, at the No. 1 position, Newborn upended 87th-ranked Harris, 5-7, 3-6, on court three, and Smaller fell to Safdar, 1-6, 7-5, 0-1 (6-10).

Duke next travels to Las Vegas, Nev., for a set of matches between UNLV (March 12) and NC State (March 13).

“We have to get used to playing outside again,” Ashworth said. “We played twice in Florida, but we're going to get a couple days of good practice outside and then another conference match with NC State. The biggest thing for us is to play outside and get that mindset to work a little harder to win points.”

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