Duke University Team Page
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The third-ranked Duke women’s tennis team travels to Virginia this weekend for the 2013 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division I National Women's Team Indoor Championship, hosted by the University of Virginia at the Boar's Head Tennis Club. The Blue Devils are slated to face Baylor in the opening round of the 16-team tournament Friday at 9 a.m.
“We are excited to use the momentum that we got from the Northwestern match,” said head coach Jamie Ashworth. “That was our first real test and we needed to have a match like that to prepare for this week. Every team here is good, so there is no easy match in the draw for anybody. We have had some really good matches with Baylor in the past, so we have to go out there and concentrate all of our efforts on Baylor.”
Duke enters the weekend with a perfect 4-0 record after sweeping No. 14 Northwestern, 4-0, Feb. 3 in Evanston, Ill. The Blue Devils claimed the doubles point for the fourth consecutive match, and have compiled a perfect 9-0 tally in doubles play this season. Against Northwestern, the tandem of sophomore Annie Mulholland and junior Marianne Jodoin topped Veronica Corning and Alicia Barnett, 8-6 to clinch the doubles point for the Blue Devils.
The Blue Devils are led by junior Hanna Mar who has tallied a 2-0 record this spring while playing in the top spot for Duke. Mar, a native of Burr Ridge, Ill., owns a 5-2 record against nationally ranked opponents and is 7-1 in her last eight matches.
Sophomore Monica Turewicz and Jodoin enter the tournament on a hot streak after combining for a perfect 8-0 record in dual matches playing the fifth and sixth positions. Turewicz enters the tournament in the midst of a 19-match win streak in dual matches, after downing Linda Abu Mushrefova of Northwestern, 6-3, 6-1, last week, while Jodoin enters the match on a 10-match singles win streak in all events, having not dropped a match since Nov. 2, 2012.
In the first round of the ITA Indoors, the Blue Devils are slated to face No. 15 Baylor, which is coming off a tough 7-0 loss to top-ranked Florida in its last match. Duke owns a 4-0 record all-time against the Bears, having last met in the quarterfinals of the consolation bracket at the 2009 National Team Indoor Championship. In that match, the No. 8 Blue Devils edged the fourth-ranked Bears, 4-3.
Duke has much experience in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, after winning the event in 2003 and finishing runner-up in 1998, 1999 and 2012. The Blue Devils rank fourth on the all-time list of wins in the event with 41, and fourth in the number of finals appearances with 4. Last season, the Blue Devils edged Mississippi in the opening round before sweeping Michigan in the quarterfinals. Top-seeded Duke then cruised by California before falling to UCLA in the championship match.
