Duke Upends Clemson at Home, 4-3

Friday, April 10

Durham, N.C.

3:00 PM

Duke University

Clemson

Duke Upends Clemson at Home, 4-3

4/10/2015 8:16:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – The match between 22nd-ranked Duke and 20th-ranked Clemson was tabbed as an evenly-matched contest coming in, and Friday's competition did not disappoint as the Blue Devils earned a hard-fought 4-3 victory over the visiting Tigers in Durham, N.C. The win marked the ninth home victory of the year for the Blue Devils (14-7, 9-2), while Clemson falls to 13-8 overall and 8-4 in ACC play this season.

“This was a big match for us,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “As far as ACC standings go, this was a huge match for us. Coming off a good energy match with Florida State I thought [the girls] following it up with this was big.”

Doubles play set the tone for the match, as action on all three doubles courts required at least 14 games to determine the winner.

On court one, the tandem of sophomore Alyssa Smith and senior Ester Goldfeld put in a commendable effort against the third-ranked doubles team in the country, Beatrice Gumulya and Jessy Rompies, but ultimately fell, 6-8. Smith and Goldfeld jumped out to a 6-4 lead but were unable to earn the final two games needed to close out the match. Smith and Goldfeld dropped the final four games of the match, dropping to 10-10 overall this season and 3-3 in conference matches.

There was no panic in the Blue Devils after falling behind in doubles. The pair of Annie Mulholland and sophomore Chalena Scholl, competing as a team for the first time this season, pulled Duke even with Clemson after dropping Joana Eidukonyte and Daniela Ruiz, 8-7 (7-5). Mulholland and Scholl took a 4-1 lead early before Eidukonyte and Ruiz strung together two straight games to pull within a game of the Duke duo. With both teams settling in, neither was able to gain an advantage over the other, with the match tied at 5-5, 6-6 and 7-7, leading to a tiebreak. In the tiebreak, Mulholland and Scholl fell behind 1-3 before storming back to take a 4-3 lead. The two pairs were locked at 5-5 in the tiebreak, before Mulholland and Scholl closed the contest with two successive points.

With the matches on courts one and two split, the doubles point would come down to the contest between Duke's freshman Samantha Harris and junior Beatrice Capra and Clemson's Romy Koelzer and Yuilynn Miao. Duke's duo, the 53rd-ranked doubles pair in the nation, trailed 1-3 at the outset, but won two straight games to pull even with the Clemson tandem. As was the case on the other two courts, neither pair was able to see a significant advantage over the other, with the margin never going beyond one game. With the match tied at 5-5, Capra and Harris took its third lead of the match, winning two straight games. Although Koelzer and Miao would win a game, bringing the match to 7-6, Capra and Harris asserted themselves and closed out, earning their first conference win of the year.

Although none of the singles matches would require a third set, Duke and Clemson proved equally competitive in singles as they had in doubles.

On court five, Scholl earned her first win of the year, securing a convincing 6-1, 6-4 victory over Ruiz. With the match tied at 1-1 in the first set, Scholl put together a five-game streak that put Ruiz a set down. In the second set, Scholl trailed 2-3 before winning two games to take a 5-3 lead. Ruiz took a game from Scholl, but the Pompano Beach, Fla., native closed out the match by winning the final set. Scholl improved to 1-3 on the year with the win.

Kahan, the 117th-ranked singles player in the nation, pulled Duke within a point of the win after downing Rompies on court four, 6-2, 6-3. Kahan dominated from the outset, leading 2-1 before a string of four straight games gave her a 5-1 lead. Rompies picked up one additional game before Kahan took the set. In the second set, Kahan fell behind, 1-3, before collecting herself and winning the final five games of the set to earn her 17th win of the year. Kahan sits just six wins shy of becoming the 25th singles player in Duke history to reach 100 career wins.

The match would be clinched on court two, as Goldfeld posted her team-best 24th win by upending 15th-ranked Eidukonyte, 6-4, 6-2. The two contestants proved evenly matched, with the first set separated by no more than two games throughout. Goldfeld fell behind, 0-2, but fought back to take a 3-2 lead. After Eidiukonyte tied the match at 3-3, Goldfeld won two games to put the set out of reach. In the second set, Goldfeld led 3-2 and won three straight games to clinch the match for Duke. With the victory, Goldfeld is 9-1 over her last 10 matches.

“A few weeks ago, I started to struggle and at Miami and Florida State I didn't play exactly the way I wanted to play,” Goldfeld said. “But we had a good week of practice and today was definitely a lot better, both in terms of me being aggressive and staying in points and knowing when to go for my shots and when to run balls down.”

Although the team competition was decided, Mulholland put in a valiant effort but fell while facing Miao on court six, 7-6 (7-0), 6-7 (5-7), 0-1 (11-13). Mulholland dropped to 18-9 with the loss.

Harris, the 73rd-ranked singles player in the country, dropped just her third conference match of the season after falling to 64th-ranked Gumulya, 2-6, 1-6, on court three. Harris was unable to catch a rhythm, falling behind 2-4 in the first set and 1-4 in the second. In both instances, Gumulya took the final two games to secure her win. Harris moves to 20-7 overall with the loss and 8-3 in conference matches.

On court one, 103rd-ranked Capra dropped her match against 33rd-ranked Koelzer, 3-6, 2-6. Koelzer led from the first game in both contests and handed Capra her seventh loss of the season. Capra is an even 5-5 over her last 10 matches.

The Blue Devils resume competition Wednesday, traveling to Chapel Hill, N.C., for a mid-week match against North Carolina. The contest is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.

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