No. 7 Duke Storms Back, Defeats No. 20 South Carolina, 4-1

Friday, January 24

Charlottesville, Va.

4:00 PM

Duke University

South Carolina

Photo by: Bri Shaw, Duke Athletics

No. 7 Duke Storms Back, Defeats No. 20 South Carolina, 4-1

1/24/2025 9:38:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Facing a deficit for only the second time this season, the seventh-ranked Duke women's tennis team stormed back to register a 4-1 victory over 20th-ranked South Carolina on Friday afternoon in the opening round of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Kickoff Weekend in Charlottesville, Va.

After dropping the doubles point and trailing on three courts early in singles, Duke turned the momentum on its side as Ellie Coleman, Katie Codd, Irina Balus and Emma Jackson won their respective matches to clinch the win.

Duke improved to 5-0, while South Carolina dropped to 2-1 on the year.

How It Happened

The Blue Devils opened the match with an impressive win on court one of doubles as 10th-ranked Ellie Coleman and Irina Balus defeated Sarah Hamner and Helena Buchwald, 6-2.
South Carolina came back on court two and registered a 6-2 victory as Olympe Lancelot and Kaitlyn Carnicella jumped out to a 2-0 lead and ended up with a 6-2 win against Duke's Emma Jackson and Shavit Kimchi.
The Gamecocks went on to clinch the doubles point with a 6-3 win on court three as Bella Bergqvist Larsson and Misa Malkin came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Eleana Yu and Ava Krug.
In singles action, South Carolina jumped out to leads on the first three courts, while the Blue Devils led on the other three courts.
Duke was able to even the score, 1-1, with a win on court five as Coleman totaled a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Buchwald.
The Blue Devils then took their first lead of the match, 2-1, with a 6-3, 6-4 victory by Katie Codd against Larsson on court six.
After dropping the first set, 6-1, to 17th-ranked Hamner, 36th-ranked Balus came back in a big way totaling a pair of 6-4 victories to put the Blue Devils ahead, 3-1.
The clinching point came on court three as Duke's 25th-ranked Jackson posted a 7-6 (7-1), 6-2 win, which was her 14th career clinching point for the Blue Devils over her four years. After falling down 5-2 in the first set, Jackson came back to win the first set with a 7-1 tiebreaker. A product of La Grange Park, Ill., Jackson then closed the match with a 6-2 second-set win.
When the match was clinched, Yu was leading, 4-1, in the third set, while Kimchi was tied one set apiece in her match.

Notes

After opening the season with a 4-0 record in doubles, the duo of Emma Jackson and Shavit Kimchi dropped their first dual match of the season and are now 8-4 overall over their career together.
Ellie Coleman and Irina Balus moved to 12-3 on the season in doubles play and are 3-1 in dual match action.
Duke dropped the doubles point for only the second time out of the five matches to open the regular season (Pepperdine).
Katie Codd won her third-straight singles match on the season.
With the singles win, Coleman posted her 10th victory of the season and 68th of her career.
Balus improved to 11-2 on the season and posted her fifth win against a ranked opponent. It marked her second win of the year against Hamner.
Jackson totaled her team-best 15th singles win of the season and now owns 77 over her career. Her 14 match-clinching wins over her career ranks 10th all-time at Duke.

Quotes

"It was a tough, tough match. South Carolina played well. They played well in doubles and kind of took it to us in singles to start. But I was proud of how we held our heads up. We didn't get too down, didn't get too disappointed and did a good job of fighting on all the courts, not just the ones we were down in, but it was a tough match for us. I'm proud of the effort that we put in there." -- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
"They had played each other in the fall before. Sarah [Hamner] comes out with a lot of energy and a lot of emotion and Irina [Balus] was able to raise herself to meet that and she was excited for the opportunity to play her again. And even though she lost that first set pretty handily, she didn't get discouraged. She was ready to compete and ready to fight in that second set. And same with Emma [Jackson] as she got down pretty quickly in that first set. They did a great job of staving off that early rush that South Carolina had there and didn't really get fazed by it, which was great to see. It's a lot of maturity on our side, especially one being a freshman, one being a senior, but they kept their emotion in check, they stayed true to what they needed to do, and didn't let the score really affect in a mental way. I am proud of both of them. Ellie [Coleman] was solid and Katie's [Codd] win at six was a big one for us to -- just to kind of get us over the over the hump and give us that a little bit of a lead there." -- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth

Next Match

Duke will next face fifth-ranked Virginia on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 3:30 p.m., in the ITA Kickoff Weekend Championship match in Charlottesville. The winner will advance to the National Team Indoors.

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

#GoDuke

#7 Duke 4, #20 South Carolina 1
January 24, 2025
Boar's Head Sports Club * Charlottesville, Va.

Doubles
1. #10 Ellie Coleman/Irina Balus (DU) def. Sarah Hamner/Helena Buchwald (SC) 6-2
2. Olympe Lancelot/Kaitlyn Carnicella (SC) def. Emma Jackson/Shavit Kimchi (DU) 6-2
3. Bella Bergqvist Larsson/Misa Malkin (SC) def. Eleana Yu/Ava Krug (DU) 6-3

Singles
1. #36 Irina Balus (DU) def. #17 Sarah Hamner (SC) 1-6, 6-4, 6-4
2. #30 Eleana Yu (DU) vs. #39 Kaitlyn Carnicella (SC) 3-6, 6-1, 4-1 unfinished
3. #25 Emma Jackson (DU) def. Olympe Lancelot (SC) 7-6 (7-1), 6-2
4. #49 Shavit Kimchi (DU) vs. Misa Malkin (SC) 6-3, 6-7 (1-7) unfinished
5. Ellie Coleman (DU) def. Helena Buchwald (SC) 6-3, 6-3
6. Katie Codd (DU) def. Bella Bergqvist Larsson (SC) 6-3, 6-4
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,2,3*), Singles (5,6,1,3*)