No. 8 Blue Devils Continue Win Streak with 4-3 Victory Over No. 30 Miami

Sunday, March 7

Durham, N.C.

12:00 PM

Duke University

Miami

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 8 Blue Devils Continue Win Streak with 4-3 Victory Over No. 30 Miami

3/7/2021 4:54:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Boxscore: Duke 4, Miami 3 Beck Post Match Interview Ashworth Post Match Interview

DURHAM, N.C. – The eighth-ranked Duke women's tennis team closed the weekend with its seventh-straight dual match victory as the Blue Devils defeated 30th-ranked Miami, 4-3, Sunday afternoon at Ambler Tennis Stadium.

Duke netted its 52nd consecutive home win and remained unbeaten in the ACC with a 9-1 overall and 4-0 league mark. Duke has won 46 out of the last 49 ACC matches, including 29 straight home ACC wins.

"It is a good win against a feisty team," said Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth. "Miami is always tough for us to play, whether it is here or down in Miami. The energy level they bring. On the second end of a back-to-back, I was actually hoping we would bring a little bit more on the emotion side and a little bit more mentally. We were able to squeak one out. I told them afterwards that when we are in these back-to-back situations, we have to be better the second day. Unfortunately, I don't think we were but fortunately we were able to get the win with some good leadership with Meible and Chloe on the courts today."

Miami (3-5, 1-3 ACC) featured only five student-athletes Sunday because of positive COVID-19 tests, quarantining and contact tracing within the program.

The Duke tandem of Kelly Chen and Georgia Drummy won by walkover on the third court to open the match.

The Hurricanes came out in doubles and were very impressive on court two as Maya Tahan and Diana Khodan defeated Duke's Chloe Beck and Karolina Berankova, 6-0. Beck and Berankova entered the match winners of nine straight matches and were a perfect, 7-0, in dual match action. With the loss, the Blue Devils dropped to 10-2.

Coming off a victory the day before over FSU's seventh-ranked duo, Duke's duo of Meible Chi and Margaryta Bilokin were in a battle with Estela Perez-Somarriba and Isabella Pfennig of Miami on court one on Sunday. Chi and Bilokin jumped out to a 3-1 advantage and never trailed. Miami cut the Blue Devil lead to 4-3, but Duke won the final two games to take a 6-3 win. Chi and Bilokin moved to 8-2 on the year.

It marked the 14th straight match Duke won the dual match doubles point and led 1-0 heading into singles.

The Blue Devils quickly went ahead, 2-0, as 95th-ranked Berankova won by walkover on court six.

Beck continued her solid play on court three as she turned in a 6-2, 6-1 straight set victory over Florencia Urrutia to improve to 11-2 on the year and collect her seventh straight victory. A product of Watkinsville, Ga., Beck gave Duke a 3-0 lead and is now 5-0 over her short career in ACC singles action.

"It is definitely exciting for us to get both of these wins," said Beck. "Especially playing two teams that are used to playing outdoors. I think I did really well with my singles matches making sure I started off with a lot of confidence. To get the ball rolling for the team was really exciting for me."

For the second straight day and the 24th time in her career, Chi clinched the victory for Duke on court four with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Maya Tahan. Chi, who is from Weston, Fla., registered her 124th all-time singles win and is now 35-7 over her career in ACC play.

"We can lean on both of them and we know that," said Ashworth on Beck and Chi. "They are going to bring the same level of tennis and intensity every day they play. I think they have done a good job and have been better as the year has gone on. Meible for five years now is someone that has stepped up when we really needed someone to step up and Chloe is kind of following in her footsteps. It doesn't matter where we play them in the lineup; they have both been all over the lineup. They both bring the same level of intensity and same level of commitment to doing the right things every day so it has been good to see."

Miami notched its first point of the day on court five as Diana Khodan upset Duke's 44th-ranked Bilokin with a 6-3, 6-2 ledger. The Hurricanes added another point on court No. 1, which featured a matchup of top 10 student-athletes. Miami's Perez-Somarriba knocked off eighth-ranked Chen, 6-2, 6-4.

The last point came down to court No. 2 with Duke's 28th-ranked Drummy against Pfennig. In the first set, Pfennig started strong with a 4-0 lead, but Drummy battled back to even the score, 5-5. Pfennig ended up taking the set, 7-6, by winning a tiebreaker, 7-5. Drummy, who is from Dublin, Ireland, came back in the second set and held a 4-3 lead midway through, but Pfennig won three straight points to take the victory, 6-4.

Duke will hit the road this week for a pair of ACC matches at 13th-ranked Georgia Tech on Friday, March 12 at 4 p.m., and at Clemson on Sunday, March 14 at 12 p.m.

For more information on Duke women's tennis, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeWTEN".

#GoDuke

#8 Duke 4, #30 Miami 3

Doubles
1.   Meible Chi/Margaryta Bilokin (Duke) def. Estela Perez-Somarriba/Isabella Pfennig (UM) 6-3
2.   Maya Tahan/Diana Khodan (UM) def. Chloe Beck/Karolina Berankova (Duke) 0-6
3.   Kelly Chen/Georgia Drummy (Duke) won by walkover

Singles

1.   #2 Estela Perez-Somarriba (UM) def. #8 Kelly Chen (Duke) 6-2, 6-4
2.   Isabella Pfennig (UM) def. #28 Georgia Drummy (Duke) 7-6 (5), 6-4
3.   #29 Chloe Beck (Duke) def. Florencia Urrutia (UM) 6-2, 6-1
4.   #111 Meible Chi (Duke) def. Maya Tahan (UM) 6-2, 6-3
5.   Diana Khodan def. #44 Margaryta Bilokin (Duke) 6-3, 6-2
6.   #95 Karolina Berankova (Duke) won by walkover

Finish:
Doubles – 3, 2, 1
Singles – 6, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2