No. 10 Blue Devils Collect 4-3 Road Win at No. 22 Georgia Tech

Friday, March 7

Atlanta, Ga.

4:00 PM

Duke University

Georgia Tech

Photo by: Bri Shaw, Duke Athletics

No. 10 Blue Devils Collect 4-3 Road Win at No. 22 Georgia Tech

3/7/2025 9:30:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

ATLANTA, Ga. – For the third time this season, Duke women's tennis senior Emma Jackson provided the match-clinching win Friday on the road at 22nd-ranked Georgia Tech with a thrilling three-set victory as the Blue Devils registered a come-from-behind, 4-3, ACC win at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex in Atlanta.

With the victory, Jackson totaled her 16th career match-clinching win, which moved her into a tie for fourth on Duke's all-time charts along with Hanna Mar. The Blue Devils improved to 9-2 overall and 3-0 in the ACC, while the Yellow Jackets dropped to 7-6, 2-2.

HOW IT HAPPENED

After jumping out to a 3-1 lead against Taly Licht and Meera Jesudason, Duke's Emma Jackson and Liv Hovde dropped five-straight games to fall, 6-3, on court three.
Duke's 14th-ranked Ellie Coleman and Irina Balus responded on court one by never trailing against Scarlett Nicholson and Kylie Bilchev and taking a 6-2 victory.
The doubles point came down to court two with Duke's Shavit Kimchi and Eleana Yu versus Georgia Tech's Alejandra Cruz and Given Roach.The Yellow Jackets opened with a 1-0 lead, but the Blue Devils responded by winning two games to go ahead, 2-1. Duke fell behind 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4, but still continued to come back to even the score, 5-5.It eventually went to a tiebreaker with Georgia Tech clinching the doubles point with a 7-4 win.
The Blue Devils were able to even the match, 1-1, as Duke's 60th-ranked Kimchi cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Licht on court five.
Georgia Tech didn't waste much time to regaining the lead, 2-1, as Kate Sharabura never trailed against Duke's 33rd-ranked Yu on court three and won 6-3, 6-4.
In just her third collegiate singles match, Hovde jumped out to a solid start against 94th-ranked Nicholson by winning the first set, 6-4.Nicholson came back though to put a third point on the board for the Yellow Jackets by winning the second and third sets, 6-1, 6-3.
The Blue Devils were able to even the score, 3-3, with victories on courts one and six.
Balus, who hails from Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, was in a ranked battle against 113th-ranked Cruz on court one.After dropping the first game, Balus took a 3-2 lead, but Cruz came back to go ahead, 4-3.Balus regained control by winning three-straight games to take the first set, 6-4.In the second set, Cruz never trailed winning 6-1.It all came down to the third set where Balus opened with a 4-0 lead.Balus then closed the contest with a 6-1 win.
Coleman opened with a 2-1 lead on court six against Olivia Carneiro, but Carneiro went on to win four-consecutive games to go ahead, 5-2.With her back against the wall, Coleman made an impressive comeback winning three games in a row to even the score, 5-5.Carneiro regained the lead, 6-5, but Coleman again battled back to send the first set to a tiebreaker, 7-3.Coleman battled back from at least six set points during the comeback.In the second set, Coleman dropped the first game, but responded by winning four-straight games to go ahead, 4-1. She eventually evened the match, 3-3, with a 6-2 victory in the second set.
It all came down to 29th-ranked Jackson from Duke and Roach on court four.Jackson, a product of La Grange Park, Ill., won the first set, 6-3.She then was up 2-0 in the second, but Roach came back to take a 4-3 lead and also led 5-4.Jackson was able to even the score, 5-5, and took a 6-5 advantage, but Roach was able to send the second set to a tiebreaker.Roach eventually won 8-6 to send it to a third and final set.Jackson got up 3-0 and led 4-2, before clinching the win for Duke with a 6-3 victory.

NOTES

Duke snapped a 2-match losing streak to Georgia Tech and moved to 15-7 in matches played at the Yellow Jackets.
Irina Balus moved to 14-4 on the season in singles and 8-2 against ranked opponents.
Sophomore Shavit Kimchi has won five out of the last seven singles matches.
With her victory, Ellie Coleman has won five out of her last six singles contests and moved to 71-38 over her career.She also now owns a 19-7 league mark and 42-19 dual match ledger.
Duke played its first outdoor match of the season.
The Blue Devils totaled their third win this season when dropping the doubles point.
Emma Jackson notched her 20th career ACC singles win, while improving to 81-48 overall in her career.

QUOTES

"At the end of the day, we won the match. I don't think we played very well. I was a little disappointed with our doubles, because we were up and we gave ourselves opportunities -- we were off to good starts, we were up 3-1 on a couple courts.So, it's disappointing that we lost the doubles point. But the good thing is, it's a position we've been in a couple times this year.Shavit [Kimchi] got us on the board quickly there after the doubles, kind of negating that. Then it was kind of a battle the rest of the way.Emma's [Jackson] been in that situation a couple times and she came through huge for us there. I think she learned from the Virginia match earlier in the year, when she was in that same situation and played with a little more confidence when it was down to her.She hit the ball and wasn't sitting back kind of hoping the girl missed. That's what we want in that situation." -- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
"Yeah, that was big. You're down by a doubles point and down in a couple of matches early -- that was huge. She did a great job and then was fairly efficient in the third set."-- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth on Ellie Coleman's comeback
"It's our first outdoor match and we just have to be better. Outdoor tennis is a little bit different. I don't think we were as prepared as we probably should have been or could have been." -- Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth

NEXT MATCH

Duke will close the weekend with another road contest at 24th-ranked Clemson on Sunday, March 9 at 11 a.m.

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

#GoDuke

#10 Duke 4, #22 Georgia Tech 3
March 7, 2025
Ken Byers Tennis Complex * Atlanta, Ga.

Doubles
1. #14 Ellie Coleman/Irina Balus (DU) def. Scarlett Nicholson/Kylie Bilchev (GT) 6-2
2. Alejandra Cruz/Given Roach (GT) def. Shavit Kimchi/Eleana Yu (DU) 7-6 (7-4)
3. Taly Licht/Meera Jesudason (GT) def. Emma Jackson/Liv Hovde (DU) 6-3

Singles
1. #13 Irina Balus (DU) def. #113 Alejandra Cruz (GT) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
2. #94 Scarlett Nicholson (GT) def. Liv Hovde (DU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
3. Kate Sharabura (GT) def. #33 Eleana Yu (DU) 6-3, 6-4
4. #29 Emma Jackson (DU) def. Given Roach (GT) 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3
5. #60 Shavit Kimchi (DU) def. Taly Licht (GT) 6-1, 6-2
6. Ellie Coleman (DU) def. Olivia Carneiro (GT) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2
Order of Finish: Doubles (3,1,2*), Singles (5,3,2,1,6,4*)