No. 11 Blue Devils Sweep Hokies, 4-0, to Open Doubleheader Monday

Monday, January 20

Durham, N.C.

9:00 AM

Duke University

Virginia Tech

Photo by: Bri Shaw, Duke Athletics

No. 11 Blue Devils Sweep Hokies, 4-0, to Open Doubleheader Monday

1/20/2025 11:49:00 AM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery Ashworth Interview

DURHAM, N.C. – In the first of two matches on Monday, the 11th-ranked Duke women's tennis team registered a 4-0 sweep of Virginia Tech in the morning inside the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. With the victory, Duke improved to 3-0 on the season, while the Hokies dropped to 0-1 in their season opener.

How It Happened

In a tightly-contested doubles point, the Blue Devils were able to take the point with wins on courts No. 1 and No. 2.
After falling behind on court one, 0-1 and 1-2, Duke's 10th-ranked Ellie Coleman and Irina Balus turned it around and registered a 6-3 win over Sema Aksu and Tara Gorinsek.Even, 2-2, the Blue Devils broke the Hokies to take a 3-2 lead and picked up another key break to go ahead, 4-3, before winning the final two games to win, 6-3.
On court three, the Blue Devil duo of Katie Codd and Ava Krug led 2-1 early, but after evening the match at 3-3 Virginia Tech's Arina Gamretkaia and Linda Ziets-Segura won three out of the next four games to take the match, 6-4.
The doubles point came down to court two with Duke's Emma Jackson and Shavit Kimchi going against 62nd-ranked Charlotte Cartledge and Ozlem Uslu.The Blue Devils went ahead, 2-0, but the Hokies responded by winning three straight games to go ahead 3-2.Kimchi came up big serving in the next game to even the score, 3-3, and then Duke broke the Hokies to go back ahead, 4-3.Jackson served for another Blue Devil game to go ahead, 5-3, and eventually clinched the key doubles point, 6-4.
Duke came out in singles action and won the first set on all six courts.
Krug, a freshman from Sarasota, Fla., moved to 2-0 in dual match play with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Mila Mulready of Virginia Tech.With a 5-0 start in the opening set and 3-0 in the second set, Krug never trailed in her contest on court six.
On court one, 36th-ranked Balus dropped the first game in both sets against Uslu, but responded by winning the next game to come back.She would go on to win, 6-1, 6-3, to put Duke ahead, 3-0, in the match.
In a race to register the clinching match, 49th-ranked Kimchi totaled a 6-1, 6-1 win on court three against Gamretkaia to give the Blue Devils a 4-0 victory.
All other singles matches were abandoned once the match was clinched.
Duke's 25th-ranked Jackson was leading 6-0, 5-4 against Aksu, while Coleman was ahead, 6-4, 5-0 versus 104th-ranked Laima Frosch.
Codd had just won the first set against Gorinsek as well, 6-4.

Notes

Monday's match against the Hokies was a non-conference contest since the two teams were not slated to play each other in ACC action in 2025.
With her win, Irina Balus became the second Blue Devils to reach 10 singles wins on the year with a 10-2 ledger.Emma Jackson currently sits at 14 to lead Duke.
The Blue Devils won their eighth-straight match against Virginia Tech and is 18-0 all-time at home against the Hokies.
Jackson and Shavit Kimchi moved to 3-0 in dual match play in doubles action.They are the only Blue Devil doubles team to remain undefeated in dual match action in 2025.Monday morning's win was the first against a ranked opponent this season.

Quotes

"I thought the doubles we got off to not a great start.Again, we just have to be tougher in the doubles.We are familiar with them and know they have good doubles.It is not a conference match, but it is a conference school, so we have played a lot of those girls before.In singles, I thought we did a good job to taking care of what we needed to, especially with the two matches today.It was a good effort by Ava [Krug] there to get the first point and the others to close out." -- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth

Next Match

Duke will host N.C. Central tonight at 6 p.m., to close the day inside Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's tennis, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWTEN".

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#11 Duke 4, Virginia Tech 0
January 20, 2025
Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center * Durham, N.C.

Doubles
1. #10 Ellie Coleman/Irina Balus (DU) def. Sema Aksu/Tara Gorinsek (VT) 6-3
2. Emma Jackson/Shavit Kimchi (DU) def. #62 Charlotte Cartledge/Ozlem Uslu (VT) 6-4
3. Arina Gamretkaia/Linda Ziets-Segura (VT) def. Katie Codd/Ava Krug (DU) 6-4

Singles
1. #36 Irina Balus (DU) def. Ozlem Uslu (VT) 6-1, 6-3
2. #25 Emma Jackson (DU) vs. Semra Aksu (VT) 6-0, 5-4 unfinished
3. #49 Shavit Kimchi (DU) def. Arina Gamretkaia (VT) 6-1, 6-1
4. Ellie Coleman (DU) vs. #104 Laima Frosch (VT) 6-4, 5-0 unfinished
5. Katie Codd (DU) vs. Tara Gorinsek (VT) 6-4, unfinished
6. Ava Krug (DU) def. Mila Mulready (VT) 6-1, 6-2
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,3,2*), Singles (6,2,3*)