TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The 24th-ranked Duke women's tennis team rebounded from a two-match skid by upending 66th-ranked Florida State, 4-0, Saturday afternoon in Tallahassee, Fla. The Blue Devils, 13-7 overall and 8-2 in conference play this season, won a tight doubles point against the Seminoles (11-9, 4-8) and carried the momentum into singles.
For the eighth conference match this season, the Blue Devils saw an early advantage after clinching the doubles point. The doubles tandems from both teams were evenly matched, but the duo of freshman Samantha Harris and Annie Mulholland, as well as the pair of junior Beatrice Capra and redshirt senior Rachel Kahan were able to pull away from their respective opponents late to secure the early lead.
Harris and Mulholland led Duke off the doubles courts after defeating Daneika Borthwick and Yukako Noi, 8-6, on court one. The Duke team jumped out to a 4-2 lead, but the Seminoles fought back to tie the match at 5-5. Harris and Mulholland surrendered just one additional game before ultimately closing out the contest to improve to 14-4 overall and 6-2 in ACC play.
With the match on court one finished, Capra and Kahan were able to clinch the doubles point with an 8-6 win over Florida State's Kerrie Cartwright and Mia Vriens. Similar to the match at the No. 1 position, the action on court three was tight, as the two teams were unable to establish a significant lead over the other. With the contest knotted at 4-4, Capra and Kahan eventually separated themselves from Cartwright and Vriens to win their eighth doubles match of the year. Capra and Kahan are 7-1 this year in conference play.
With the doubles point clinched, play on court two between sophomore Alyssa Smith and senior Ester Goldfeld and Florida State's 40th-ranked pair of Gabriella Castaneda and Emily Fanning remained unfinished, with the Duke duo trailing, 5-6.
The success of doubles carried over to the singles courts, with Duke taking the victory on courts one, two and three in straight sets to down the Seminoles.
On court two, 38th-ranked Goldfeld defeated her fourth nationally ranked opponent of the season after upending 102nd-ranked Kerrie Cartwright, 6-3, 6-0. Goldfeld demonstrated her resilience in the match. After falling behind 1-3 in the opening set the Brooklyn, N.Y., native responded, winning the next five games in the first set and six straight in the second set to improve her record on the year to 23-11 overall and 7-3 in conference action.
Similar to Goldfeld, Harris also posted a victory over a ranked opponent, downing 117th-ranked Noi, 6-4, 6-4, on court three. Five games into the first set, Harris owned a 3-2 advantage. Four games later, the two competitors would remain separated by a single game, with Harris leading, 5-4. The Melbourne, Australia, native would win one additional game to close out the opening set. In the second set, Harris fell behind, 1-2, but after buckling down, turned the match in her favor, taking a 5-4 lead. Similar to the first set, Harris won the final game of the set to win the match. Harris became the second Blue Devil this season to reach 20 wins, owning an overall mark of 20-6 this year.
The victory was secured on court one, as Capra defeated 93rd-ranked Borthwick, 6-1, 6-4. Capra won the first set of her contest in dominant fashion, dropping a single game to Borthwick. In the second set, Capra stormed out to a 3-0 lead, but Borthwick battled back to tighten the match. With the second set sitting at 5-4, Capra settled in and took the final game to earn her eighth win of the year and improve to 8-6 this season.
With the match clinched, contests on courts four, five and six remained unfinished. On court four, 109th-ranked Kahan trailed Castaneda, 6-3, 1-6, 0-1, while on court five, the match between sophomore Chalena Scholl and Daniela Schippers sat at 7-6 (7-2), 2-2. The contest on court six also remained unfinished, as Mulholland sat behind Vriens, 4-6, 3-2.
Duke returns home Friday, welcoming No. 22 Clemson to Durham. The match is set for 3 p.m.
#GoDuke
