DURHAM, N.C. – The seventh-ranked Duke women’s tennis team closed its three-match week with a 4-0 sweep of 37th-ranked Wake Forest on Sunday in ACC action inside Ambler Tennis Stadium.
The Blue Devils turned in victories against 40th-ranked Yale (7-0), 10th-ranked NC State (4-3) and 37th-ranked Wake Forest (4-0) this week to move to 6-0 in ACC play and 14-2 overall on the season. The Demon Deacons dropped to 12-7, 2-4.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Blue Devils turned in victories against 40th-ranked Yale (7-0), 10th-ranked NC State (4-3) and 37th-ranked Wake Forest (4-0) this week to move to 6-0 in ACC play and 14-2 overall on the season. The Demon Deacons dropped to 12-7, 2-4.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Riding a three-match winning streak, Duke’s duo of Emma Jackson and Liv Hovde jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Makayla Mills and Sankavi Gownder of Wake Forest.After the Demon Deacons won the next game on court three, the Blue Devils won three in a row to win, 6-1.
- On court one, Duke’s 13th-ranked tandem of Ellie Coleman and Irina Balus went up against 64th-ranked Nevena Carton and Kady Tannenbaum.After taking a 2-0 advantage early, WFU got a game of its own.Duke went ahead, 3-1, and the Demon Deacons added a second to cut the lead to 3-2.Coleman and Balus were solid the rest of the way winning three straight games to win, 6-2, and give Duke the doubles point.
- Wake Forest’s team of Anna Zhang and Stella Li were leading, 4-3, against Shavit Kimchi and Ava Krug when the doubles point was clinched.
- In singles play, Duke kept the momentum winning the first set on five of the six courts.
- Coming off a birthday victory Friday against NC State, Coleman continued her winning ways as she totaled a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Li on court five to give Duke a 2-0 advantage.
- Jackson, a senior from La Grange Park, Ill., put the Blue Devils ahead, 3-0, with a straight set win against Tannenbaum on court three.In the first set, Jackson took a 3-0 lead, but Tannenbaum came back to win four straight games to take a 4-3 lead.It went back and forth the rest of the set as Jackson regained the lead, 5-4, but Tannenbaum responded by taking back the lead, 6-5.Jackson evened the score, 6-6, and eventually won the first set, 8-6, on a tiebreaker.In the second set, Jackson trailed, 4-1, but battled back to win the second set by a 6-4 ledger.
- Sophomore Eleana Yu was able to clinch the 4-0 win for Duke as she totaled a 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) win over Gownder on court four.Yu, who is from Mason, Ohio, never trailed in the first set winning 6-4.In the second, she fell behind, 4-0, but came back to even the score, 4-4.Yu led 5-4 and 6-5, but had to eventually win the tiebreaker, 7-2.
- On court one, 12th-ranked Balus was leading 53rd-ranked Carton, 6-3, 6-6, when the match was clinched.Hovde was in the third set with Zhang all tied up – 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-2), 1-1.On court six, Katie Codd was even with Mills, 6-1, 4-6, 1-1.
NOTES
- Emma Jackson and Liv Hovde won their fifth consecutive match to move to 6-1 on the season and 4-1 in ACC action in doubles.
- Ellie Coleman and Irina Balus moved to 18-7 on the season and posted their fourth win against ranked opponents in doubles.
- Jackson won her seventh straight singles match to move to 6-0 in ACC play and 22-8 on the year.
- Ellie Coleman won her seventh consecutive match to move to 5-0 in ACC play, 17-6 overall this season and 75-38 over her career in singles.
- Eleana Yu clinched the victory for Duke for the third time this season. She moved to 14-6 on the year and 2-2 in ACC action.
QUOTES
- “I don’t know if we ran out of gas a little bit — I think that we just let Wake hang around. And when you let good teams hang around, you never know what can happen. They start to believe a little bit in themselves. They start to get a little confidence, then they can swing a little bit freer and then you get a little bit tighter yourself. I think we just can’t let teams do that. When we have to a chance to finish a match. We have to finish it.”– Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
- “First, just making sure, physically, that we’re good to go on Wednesday. These matches, like I said, Friday night was a long one. This was a little bit longer than we’d hoped.I told them I’m not concerned about the ball striking, I am more concerned about the physicality of it. We have to be prepared for another physical match.But if we want to accomplish what we can accomplish we’re going to have to do this day in and day out. The ACC Tournament, you don’t get days off, the NCAA Tournament, you don’t get days off, it’s all a process.” –Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth on the preparation for North Carolina Wednesday
- “Gosh, it felt so good, it felt like such a relief kind of almost in a sense.It was very gratifying to kind of get that clinch.I saw that most of my teammates were in their third set so I felt like if I could pull it out and get that win, it would also help them with their energy and everything.”–Duke sophomore Eleana Yu
NEXT MATCH
- The Blue Devils will feature a mid-week contest this week as Duke travels down Tobacco Road to face fourth-ranked North Carolina at 5 p.m.
To stay up to date with Blue Devils women’s tennis, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching “DukeWTEN”.
#GoDuke
#7 Duke 4, #37 Wake Forest 0
March 23, 2025
Ambler Tennis Stadium * Durham, N.C.
Doubles
1. #13 Ellie Coleman/Irina Balus (DU) def. #64 Nevena Carton/Kady Tannenbaum (WFU) 6-2
2. Shavit Kimchi/Ava Krug (DU) vs. Anna Zhang/Stella Li (WFU) 3-4 unfinished
3. Emma Jackson/Liv Hovde (DU) def. Makayla Mills/Sankavi Gownder (WFU) 6-1
Singles
1. #12 Irina Balus (DU) vs. #53 Nevena Carton (WFU) 6-3, 6-6 unfinished
2. Liv Hovde (DU) vs. Anna Zhang (WFU) 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-2), 1-1 unfinished
3. #25 Emma Jackson (DU) def. Kady Tannenbaum (WFU) 7-6 (8-6), 6-4
4. #41 Eleana Yu (DU) def. Sankavi Gownder (WFU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)
5. #125 Ellie Coleman (DU) def. Stella Li (WFU) 6-1, 6-3
6. Katie Codd (DU) vs. Makayla Mills (WFU) 6-1, 4-6, 1-1 unfinished
Order of Finish: Doubles (3,1*), Singles (5,3,4*)
