Duke Women Fall Short of Major Upset

By Dan Deng

Following the Duke men’s tennis match against No. 3 Tennesee Saturday, the Women’s Tennis Team hosted an equally elite opponent Sunday afternoon, No. 2 Florida.

Doubles action kicked off at 12 pm. On court one, the Blue Devils’ Ellah Nze and Mary Clayton had a tough matchup against the Gators’ Allie Will and Sophie Oyen, the number one ranked doubles team in the country. Nze and Clayton put on a spectacular show and pulled ahead to a 7-3 lead. However, just when it seemed Duke had this match won, the Florida duo showed resilience and battled back to take it 9-7. Unfortunately, the Blue Devils also dropped its doubles match on court two, and the match on court three was not finished.

After doubles was concluded, freshman Hanna Mar, who played at No. 2 doubles, attributed Duke’s doubles struggles to a slow start. She noted the Blue Devils could have reduced its errors on easy put-aways at net. Mar made sure to give credit to the quality of the Florida players.

With nine ranked players between the two teams, singles was bound to be good. Court one featured Duke’s No. 23 Nadine Fahoum and Florida’s No. 7 Allie Will.  This turned out to be the least competitive of the day’s matches. Fahoum played well but couldn’t keep up with Will’s firepower. Shortly after Fahoum fell, Duke’s Elizabeth Plotkin lost to Florida’s Sophie Oyen on court two, despite some hard hitting from Plotkin. Overall, the Gators were able to use deep shots to drive the Blue Devil players back, before coming to net to finish with powerful smashes or crisp drop shots.

With the first two singles matches to finish went to Florida, Duke needed to win out if they wanted to clinch the match.  Duke’s Mary Clayton kept the cause alive by beating her opponent in straight sets on court six. Then Duke’s Rachel Kahan proceeded to defeat her opponent from a set down. Both Clayton and Kahan beat girls ranked in the top 30.  After Ellah Nze bageled her opponent in the second set, it seemed Duke stood a good chance of pulling off the upset.

But it was not meant to be.  Down 3-4 in the decisive third set, Nze fought off several game points but ultimately could not break her opponents serve and lost. Nonetheless, Nze’s final stand was the most exhilarating part of the entire contest and kept both Duke and Florida fans on their feet. Had Nze won, attention would have shifted to the three-set thriller between Duke’s Reka Zsilinszka and Florida Lauren Embree. Their match was not finished, as Florida had already clinched the contest.

Next weekend, the Women’s Tennis Team travels to Charlottesville, Virginia to compete at the National Indoors.

 

 

Results

Singles Competition
1. #7 Allie Will (FLA) def. #25 Nadine Fahoum (DU) 6-2, 6-2

2. #4 Reka Zsilinszka (DU) vs. Lauren Embree (FLA) 6-4, 3-6, unfinished

3. #96 Sofie Oyen (FLA) def. #71 Elizabeth Plotkin (DU) 6-4, 6-3

4. #30 Joanna Mather (FLA) def. #49 Ellah Nze (DU) 6-3, 0-6, 6-3

5. Rachel Kahan (DU) def. #28 Alexandra Cercone (FLA) 2-6, 6-2, 6-0

6. Mary Clayton (DU) def. #22 Olivia Janowicz (FLA) 6-3, 6-3

Doubles Competition
1. #1 Allie Will/Sofie Oyen (FLA) def. Ellah Nze/Monica Gorny (DU) 9-7

2. Lauren Embree/Joanna Mather (FLA) def. Nadine Fahoum/Hanna Mar (DU) 8-6

3. Reka Zsilinszka/Elizabeth Plotkin (DU) vs. Alexandra Cercone/Caroline Hitimana (FLA) 7-5, unfinished

Match Notes

Florida 7-0; National ranking #2

Duke 6-1; National ranking #6

Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (1,3,6,5,4)