DURHAM – The sixth-ranked Duke women's tennis team welcomes a pair of ranked opponents to the Bull City this weekend as the Blue Devils host No. 10 Ohio State and No. 23 Princeton at Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.
Duke will face the Buckeyes on Friday at 6 p.m., before squaring off against the Tigers on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Parking is available in the Blue Zone. To view the map, click
HERE. Both contests this weekend are also Royal Blue matches.
Live stats are available for all matches and can be found at the link
HERE.
All eight players -
Chloe Beck,
Karolina Berankova,
Margaryta Bilokin,
Kelly Chen,
Ellie Coleman,
Georgia Drummy,
Emma Jackson and
Eliza Omirou – are set to take the court for the Blue Devils.
No food or beverages will be allowed in Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. This is consistent with the university's current policy on indoor dining across the campus to reduce the risk of COVID transmission during the current surge of the Omicron variant.
THE OPPONENTS
Ohio State – The Buckeyes enter the season with four ranked singles players - No. 6 Irina Cantos Siemers, No. 72 Lucia Marzal, No. 114 Luna Dormet and No. 123 Sydni Ratliff, as well as one ranked doubles pairing - No. 29 Irina Cantos Siemers/Sydni Ratliff.
Duke and Ohio State have met eight times, with the Blue Devils leading the series 7-1. The Buckeyes' lone win came during their last matchup, 4-2, on Jan. 31, 2020.
The Buckeyes are coming off competing at the Michigan Invitational, where they faced the Blue Devils, No. 16 Michigan and Notre Dame.
Princeton – The Tigers enter the weekend with an overall record of 0-2, including a 5-2 loss at the University of Oklahoma on Jan. 19.
Princeton features three ranked singles players and one ranked doubles pairing. The ranked singles players are junior Daria Frayman (No. 4), freshman Victoria Hu (No. 23) and senior Brianna Shvets (No. 60), while Frayman and junior Grace Joyce are ranked No. 7 in doubles action.
Duke leads the all-time series 14-3 and has won the last 11 meetings against the Tigers. This will be the first meeting since Feb. 23, 2013, which the Blue Devils won 7-0.
Blue Devils Ranked No. 6 in ITA Preseason Coaches Poll
Duke women's tennis opens the 2022 slate as the sixth-ranked squad in the country, as announced by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) last week.
Reigning NCAA National Champions Texas sits at the top of the preseason team rankings to begin the 2022 season. Rounding out the top 10 are Pepperdine (No. 2), North Carolina (No. 3), Georgia (No. 4), UCLA (No. 5), Duke (No. 6), Virginia (No. 7), NC State (No. 8), California (No. 9) and Ohio State (No. 10).
The ACC features the most programs in the poll with seven, edging out the SEC's six teams. The 2022 campaign marks the second-straight season that the Blue Devils have begun the season ranked No. 6 and the sixth-consecutive year in the top 10.
Seven Blue Devils Ranked in Final Fall ITA Rankings
Seven Duke players were featured on the final ITA singles and doubles list following the completion of the fall tennis season.
Chloe Beck led the way for Duke in singles action at No. 15, followed by freshmen
Emma Jackson and
Ellie Coleman, as well as senior
Georgia Drummy, at No. 26, No. 48 and No. 73, respectively.
On the doubles side, senior
Kelly Chen and graduate student
Eliza Omirou were ranked 10th, Beck and senior
Margaryta Bilokin finished No. 20 and Beck and Coleman checked in at No. 60.
For more information on Duke women's tennis, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeWTEN".
#GoDuke