Blue Devils Open ACC Play at Home This Weekend

Friday, February 20

Durham, N.C.

3:00 p.m.

Duke University

Boston College

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devils Open ACC Play at Home This Weekend

2/19/2026 1:18:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Boston College (6-2, 0-0 ACC) at Duke (6-2, 0-0 ACC)
Friday, Feb. 20 * 3 p.m.
Durham, N.C. * Ambler Tennis Stadium
Live Scoring l Watch Live l Watch ACC CrossCourt Cast l Digital Program

Syracuse (4-3, 0-0 ACC) at Duke (6-2 0-0 ACC)
Sunday, Feb. 22 * 12 p.m.
Durham, N.C. * Ambler Tennis Stadium
Live Scoring l Watch Live l Watch ACC CrossCourt Cast l Digital Program

Women's Tennis to Open ACC Action Against Boston College & Syracuse This Weekend

February 19, 2026 | Complete Release

DURHAM, N.C. – After having a week off, the Duke women's tennis team resumes action this week as the 19th-ranked Blue Devils open ACC play by hosting Boston College and Syracuse in Durham. The Blue Devils will welcome Boston College Friday, Feb. 20 at 3 p.m., while Duke hosts Syracuse Sunday, Feb. 22 at 12 p.m. Both matches are currently scheduled to be played outside at the Ambler Tennis Stadium.

The Blue Devils are currently riding a 15-match home winning streak heading into action this weekend. Admission is free and parking will be available in the blue zone lot adjacent to the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.

The Series with Boston College
Duke and Boston College will face off for the 22nd time in program history with the Blue Devils leading the series, 21-0. In matches contested in Durham, Duke owns an 11-0 record. Blue Devil head coach Jamie Ashworth owns a 19-0 record against Boston College.

Scouting Boston College
Boston College women's tennis enters Friday's match with a 6-2 overall record and will open ACC play this weekend. The Eagles are led by Nigel Bentley in his 27th season in 2025-26.

The Series with Syracuse
Duke and Syracuse will meet for the 16th time in program history with the Blue Devils leading the series with a 15-0 ledger. In matches played in Durham, Duke owns a 7-0 record. Blue Devil head coach Jamie Ashworth owns a 12-0 record against the Orange.

Scouting Syracuse
Syracuse enters the weekend with a 4-3 overall record and opens ACC play Friday at North Carolina. The Orange are led by Younes Limam, who is in his 11th season at the helm. Syracuse owns one doubles team ranked – Nelly Knezkova/Anastasia Sysoeva (#20).

What is Next
Duke will next hit the road for a contest at 23rd-ranked SMU Friday, Feb. 27 and then travel for a non-conference match at Michigan Sunday, March 1.

ITA Rankings
Duke is currently No. 19 nationally in the ITA rankings as a team.

Head coach Jamie Ashworth has guided Duke to 21 top-10 preseason rankings in his 30 seasons as the head coach of the Blue Devils. Duke has been in the preseason top-16 nationally in each of the last 30 years under Ashworth.

In singles play, Irinia Balus (#22), Aspen Schuman (#86), Eleana Yu (#101) and Liv Hovde (#118) are ranked. Duke features three doubles teams as well with Shavit Kimchi/Hovde (#12), Hovde/Balus (#30) and Eleana Yu/Claire An (#39).

Schuman owns a 4-1 ledger to open her career and debuted in the national rankings this week.

Approaching 1,000 Wins as a Program
Duke is only six wins away from reaching 1,000 victories as a program. The Blue Devils currently feature a 994-304 ledger over the 49 years of the program. In NCAA history, only three programs have reached 1,000 wins – Stanford, Florida and Georgia. Duke will become the fourth.

Various Duke Notes

Duke sophomore Irina Balus registered a win over Texas' second-ranked Carmen Andreea Herea, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-4, in the National Team Indoors. It marked the highest ranked win of her collegiate career.
Liv Hovde and Shavit Kimchi are ranked No. 12 nationally in doubles, which is their highest ranking of the season. They are 9-4 on the year.

Doubles Team Nets Honor
The Duke tandem of Liv Hovde and Shavit Kimchi were named the ACC Doubles Team of the Week on Feb. 10, following the National Team Indoors.

Hovde and Kimchi collected a 2-1 record at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Team Indoors at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana, Illinois. The duo registered their first two ranked wins as the Blue Devils defeated Ohio State's 13th-ranked Hephzibah Oluwadare and Teah Chavez, 7-6 (7-2), and also knocked off 59th-ranked Tess Bucher and Alice Xu, 7-6 (7-3).

So far this season, Duke's duo has collected a 9-4 record. Hovde and Kimchi also advanced to the round of 16 at the NCAA Doubles Championship in the fall.

Balus Earns PNC Achievers Award
Duke women's tennis sophomore Irina Balus and fencing junior Dayaal Singh were named PNC Achievers of the Year for the 2024-25 campaign and were recognized at the Duke men's basketball game Feb. 14.

Since arriving on campus, Balus has made an immediate impact on the Duke women's tennis team. She is coming off a 2025 campaign where she earned ITA All-America honors, received as high as a No. 8 national ranking in singles and No. 8 in doubles and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Championship. Balus, a native of Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, helped lead Duke to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Team Championship this past May and owns 27 wins over her first two seasons with the Blue Devils.

Blue Devils Add Aspen Schuman for Dual Match Action
In November, Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth announced the signing of Aspen Schuman. A native of Menlo Park, California, Schuman joined the Blue Devils in January.

Schuman has an Intercollegiate Tennis Federation (ITF) career high ranking of No. 31 and a Women's Tennis Association (WTA) career-best ranking of No. 931. In the Tennis Recruiting Network rankings, Schuman is listed No. 4 nationally and she has been listed as high as No. 1 in the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Girls' 18s national rankings. A six-time Junior Grand Slam main draw competitor, Schuman has won five ITF junior singles titles and is a two-time ITF W15 Tournament finalist.

Home Court Advantage
Since the 2000-01 season, Duke has collected a 278-27 record at home. Inside Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center, the Blue Devils have totaled a 48-10 ledger since opening its doors in 2000-01. Over the last 10 years, Duke owns a 71-3 record inside Sheffield. The Blue Devils currently feature a 15-match home winning streak.

Balus Earns All-America Accolades Once Again
For the second year in a row, Duke sophomore Irina Balus has earned All-America honors as she advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Championship in the fall.

Balus became just the fourth Blue Devil to earn All-America accolades in each of their first two seasons in Durham – Amanda Johnson (2001, 2002), Kelly McCain (2002, 2023) and Vanessa Webb (1996, 1997).

Balus won five out of her final seven matches to conclude the fall and owns a career singles mark of 24-16.

The Head Coach
Head coach Jamie Ashworth is in his 30th season with the Blue Devils and owns an impressive 642-164 ledger. In 2024, Ashworth registered his 600th victory on Jan. 20 in a 4-2 win over Illinois. He accomplished this mark in only 747 matches, becoming the quickest coach to 600 wins.

Quickest to 600 Wins – 747 matches by Jamie Ashworth (Duke), 749 by Jeff Wallace (Georgia), 779 by Brian Kalbas (William & Mary/North Carolina), and 785 by Lin Loring (UC Santa Barbara/Indiana).

Ashworth became the seventh NCAA Division I coach to reach the 600-win ledger – Lin Loring (846), Jeff Wallace (818), Brian Kalbas (797), Jay Louderback (703), Geoff MacDonald (631), Gualberto Escudero (631) and Jamie Ashworth (636) (wins entering the 2026 season).

Among the winningest coaches of all time, Ashworth ranks 10th with a 79.9 winning percentage, sixth with 642 wins, third for winningest active coaches by percentage (79.9) and second for winningest active coaches by victories (642).

Big Sets for Little Hearts
The Duke men's and women's tennis programs announced a partnership with the Duke Children's Hospital Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center called Big Sets for Little Hearts in the fall of 2024.

Big Sets for Little Hearts pledges will be made based on the number of sets won by the men's and women's tennis programs.

If you are interested in supporting Blue Devil tennis' partnership with Duke Children's, you can pledge for each set won during the season or make a one-time donation. Pledges start at $0.10, $0.50, $1.00 and $2.50. Based on last year's results, the smallest pledged donation would be equal to $64.70. For more information or to donate, click here.

The Duke Children's Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center is the No. 2 ranked pediatric cardiology and heart surgery program in the United States for newborns and children with congenital and acquired heart disease. The Duke Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center strives to improve their patients' outcomes and the quality of their lives.

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