SEATTLE, Wash. – The fourth-ranked Duke women's tennis team's time in Seattle, Wash., came to a close Monday evening as they fell to third-ranked North Carolina, 4-0, in the semifinals of the ITA Indoor National Championships. The Blue Devils were defeated the first time this season and are now 7-1 while the Tar Heels improve to 9-0.
“I thought today was definitely a winnable match,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “The score doesn't reflect that. We left a lot of opportunities on the court. In those opportunities, I thought North Carolina was just tougher than we were. We had chances to win points and win games and we didn't take advantage of it. We can either sit and sulk or learn from this and hopefully we learn from it and become better when we play them again in the coming weeks. It was a tough loss but hopefully we will be better because of it.”
For the first time this season, the Blue Devils dropped the doubles point. Senior tandem Ellyse Hamlin and Kaitlyn McCarthy continued to bring the energy and were first off on court two, upsetting fifth-ranked Makenna Jones and Cameron Morra, 6-2. The Tar Heels then picked up the remaining two courts within minutes of each other as Kelly Chen and Meible Chi fell to Sara Daavettila and Alle Sanford on court three before Jessie Aney and Alexa Graham defeated No. 30 Maria Mateas and Margaryta Bilokin, 6-2, on court one.
Hamlin and McCarthy improve to 7-1 this season while Chen/Chi fall to 5-2 and Mateas/Bilokin drop to 2-2.
Seventh-ranked Graham defeated No. 21 Chen (6-1, 6-4) on court three to put the Tar Heels on the board first in singles before No. 11 Mateas was defeated by sixth-ranked Jones (7-6 [5], 6-0) on the top court. North Carolina's fifth singles player, Aney, sealed the deal for the Tar Heels as she picked up a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Bilokin.
Chen and Bilokin are both now 5-2 in dual matches this season while Mateas is 3-3.
“We'll have a couple days off but at the same time, but we have the toughest part of our schedule coming up,” Ashworth said. “We'll be at Florida State and at Miami and then we'll come back to play Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Michigan. Those are some of the toughest matches we'll play all year. We have to build on this and learn that we have to play with emotion and energy. If we do that, really good things can happen. We need to regroup and be ready to go when we play down in Tallahassee in 10 days.”
The Blue Devils will have some time off before returning to the court Friday, Feb. 22, to open ACC play at No. 20 Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla.
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Tennis Match Results
Duke vs North Carolina
Feb 11, 2019 at Seattle, Wash.
(Nordstrom Tennis Center)
#3 North Carolina 4, #4 Duke 0
Singles competition
1. #6 Makenna Jones (NC) def. #11 Maria Mateas (DU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-0
2. #15 Sara Daavettila (NC) vs. #8 Meible Chi (DU) 6-2, 4-6, 2-2, unfinished
3. #7 Alexa Graham (NC) def. #21 Kelly Chen (DU) 6-1, 6-4
4. #20 Cameron Morra (NC) vs. #100 Kaitlyn McCarthy (DU) 6-4, 3-6, 0-4, unfinished
5. Jessie Aney (NC) def. Margaryta Bilokin (DU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
6. #104 Alle Sanford (NC) vs. Ellyse Hamlin (DU) 6-7 (3-7), 6-6, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. Jessie Aney/Alexa Graham (NC) def. #30 Maria Mateas/Margaryta Bilokin (DU) 6-2
2. Ellyse Hamlin/Kaitlyn McCarthy (DU) def. #5 Makenna Jones/Cameron Morra (NC) 6-2
3. Sara Daavettila/Alle Sanford (NC) def. Kelly Chen/Meible Chi (DU) 6-4
Match Notes:
Duke 7-1; National ranking #4
North Carolina 9-0; National ranking #3
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (3,1,5)
