Dynamite Duo: Megan Miller and Ramsey Smith

By John Roth The worst day of Megan Miller's Duke tennis career was April 5, 2000. Hands down, nothing else comes close. On that day, the Blue Devil women's team saw a 116-match winning streak against ACC teams come to an end with a 6-3 loss to Wake Forest. Miller, a junior, took the court as Duke's No. 1 singles player but suffered a quick and untimely demise, losing in straight sets to Deacon freshman Adria Engel in less than 90 minutes of action. Eighteen days later, Miller experienced life at the other end of the tennis spectrum. At the ACC Tournament championship match in Atlanta, she gained revenge on Engel, and her Blue Devil team grabbed a 5-3 decision over the Deacons that gave Duke its 13th consecutive conference title. Then Miller was presented with the tourney's most valuable player award. "After the loss to Wake, we were embarrassed and upset," Miller recalled.

"I felt horrible, not just because of my personal loss but because overall our dynasty had sort of come crashing down and I felt a sense of responsibility. I think all of us did, because each position on our team counts the same.

"As a group we felt this huge responsibility because we were the ones that had messed up the whole ACC streak. That really put the fire back into our bellies to hold on to the ACC crown."

The Duke men's tennis team also held on to its ACC crown, but in slightly different fashion. Cast clearly in the role of tourney favorite following their fifth straight undefeated conference campaign, the Blue Devils knocked off North Carolina 4-1 for their third consecutive ACC title and sixth in the last seven years.

Junior Ramsey Smith was one of the catalysts, winning all of his singles matches at No. 2 and all of his doubles matches at No. 1 with Doug Root to claim MVP honors.

Jones became the eighth Duke player in the last 10 years to earn the tournament MVP trophy on the men's side, while Miller became the 12th straight Blue Devil woman to cop the honor. Their two programs - each ranked sixth in the nation - headed into NCAA Tournament play last weekend with home-court regionals, and both won twice to advance to the "sweet 16" of the NCAA Tournament. The women (23-5) blanked Winthrop and Arkansas by 5-0 scores and will face Arizona State on May 18 in Malibu, Calif. The men (24-5) shutout Charleston Southern 4-0 and edged South Carolina 4-3 and now move to Athens, Ga., to put their 11-match winning streak on the line May 20 against SMU.

With the tournament in high gear, both Miller and Smith were relishing the level of excellence sustained by their programs during this 2000 season.

For the women, ACC titles and NCAA final four appearances (four in a row) have become routine. The ACC tourney has usually been likened to a warmup event for postseason play. But this year's Duke team entered the ACCs in a more precarious position after finishing in second place to Wake, making the Racquet Club of the South an important proving ground.

"After losing to Wake Forest in the regular season," said Miller, "we went back to the drawing board and evaluated what we were doing. Over the years it's been pretty much understood that we would win all the ACC matches. Going into the tournament we reassessed what we were doing and dedicated ourselves to trying to reach our goals. One of our goals was to win the ACCs. This year, by attaining that goal, it had more meaning for us because of the loss to Wake Forest. We weren't necessarily the favorite this time, so the win was a lot more satisfying for us."

Miller, ranked 12th nationally in singles, said the Duke players rededicated themselves to excellence in the two weeks between the Wake loss and the ACC tourney, devoting themselves to drills on some of their weaknesses and coming together more as a team. "It was more than footwork drills," she explained. "It was about a bigger sacrifice - to see who on our team was willing to do that for the benefit of the whole team. It really worked out, because we saw that all of us were willing to step up and take responsibility for our behavior and take responsibility for the fact that we wanted to win for each other so badly.

"We were willing to come out at 7:30 in the morning to train. That's more what it was about than drills. Yeah, the footwork helped us on the court, but it was more about looking down the line and seeing that all my teammates were willing to go the distance to do whatever it takes. That's what I think brought us through that (ACC title) match."

One of the more experienced players on a relatively young team, Miller was determined to prove that she could help set a tone for the Blue Devils. "There is proof in the pudding. You can go out there and work hard and reap the benefits," she said. "Growing up my father always told me you reap what you sew. If you put the work in, you're going to get out of it what you put into it.

"I made a statement, not just for myself but also for my teammates. I wanted to be a good leader this year and help my team maintain its level.

By really working hard for my own personal level and going out and beating (Engel) when she had taken me to the cleaners last time showed everyone that anything is possible if you really work hard."

"She played well all weekend," Duke coach Jamie Ashworth said. "She went 3-0 in singles and 1-0 in doubles and beat two players who are ranked in the top 20 in the country. The girl she beat in the final she basically got killed by last time. She did a good job keeping her composure and staying disciplined with her game.

"Looking back, it was probably a good thing we lost that regular season match to Wake Forest because it enabled us to see some of the things we needed to work on and change some things we were doing...We talked about playing fearless. I thought that was the key especially in doubles as we had no fear at all what was lying ahead."

During the NCAA opening weekend, Miller became the 14th Blue Devil to reach the 100 mark in career singles wins with a victory against Winthrop. She then had one of her most impressive wins of the year with a 6-1, 6-1 shellacking of 18th-ranked Chin Bee Khoo of Arkansas. Ramsey Smith of the Duke men's team didn't necessarily play his best tennis in claiming the ACC tourney MVP award. In fact, in two of his singles matches, he had to pull out some tough matches over opponents he had routed during the regular season. He was plenty satisfied that he was able to do that in the context of helping Duke win a team trophy. "Looking back on it, it's a great accomplishment and I'm proud of myself.

It caps off a pretty solid regular season for me," said Smith, the son of tennis great Stan Smith. "I had a goal to make All-ACC so I'm happy about that, but I'm actually more excited about how we're playing as a team. Individual accomplishments are great, but it's more exciting to see Pedro (Escudero back from an injury) in there and to see everything come together." Escudero, a senior who previously played for LSU, has missed virtually the entire season following elbow surgery but returned during the ACC tourney to give the team a lift.

"As a team we just kind of pulled together. Pedro looked really good. That will help us in the NCAAs. He knows what it's like to be in tight situations. He's one of the strongest guys mentally on our team. His elbow's feeling better, he's working his butt off and this is really all he wants - the next couple of weeks here. He's putting everything into this."

Smith has never been part of an ACC loss as a Blue Devil. The year before he arrived, Duke dropped the ACC title match to Clemson but in the last three years the conference race has been entirely Duke blue. His recruiting class, which also includes Andres Pedroso, Marko Cerenko and Ted Rueger, has played a major role in that domination. Smith also gives plenty of credit to head coach Jay Lapidus for keeping the team hungry.

"We played a lot of the top teams in the country in the middle of the season, we had a couple of losses, then we had the ACC season," Smith noted. "We could have gone casually through that, but we really stepped it up. Jay is good at really getting us fired up. He treats the ACC Tournament like every match is really important and gets us fired up.

"We also take pride in the fact that we haven't lost in a long time and everyone's gunning for us. They want us even more now. They're going after us really hard and getting fired up for us."

Smith is ranked No. 34 in the country in singles and No. 5 in doubles with Doug Root. Smith recently was named the regional winner of the ITA's Tennis Magazine/Arthur Ashe Jr. Sportsmanship and Leadership award. It was the second such honor for Smith this year, as he won the USTA Sportsmanship award at the National Team Indoor Championships in February. An All-ACC selection with a 24-11 record and an NCAA invitee in singles and doubles, Smith is an ACC Honor Roll student and is involved in Athletes in Action and Habitat for Humanity. But right now, his sole focus is helping Duke reach the NCAA quarterfinals for the third time in four years.

"We haven't proven ourselves yet," said Smith, "because we haven't beaten those top teams, but I'm excited. I think we've got a shot. Anything can happen now. There are probably 10 teams that can win it. It's wide open and I think we're one of the top teams. This is what you work the whole season for so we're excited about it."

Dynamite Duo: Megan Miller and Ramsey Smith

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