DURHAM, N.C. - Senior Mary Clayton tallied her 100th career singles victory as the third-ranked Duke women's tennis team swept No. 60 Wyoming, 4-0 in the championship match of the Durham region of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Kick-Off Weekend. With the win, the Blue Devils earned a berth into the ITA National Indoor Championship, hosted by the University of Virginia Feb. 8-11.

 

"I thought we came out and played with a purpose," said head coach Jamie Ashworth. "I was happy with our energy especially at the start of the singles in both matches all weekend. One of our goals all weekend was to bring energy, internal energy into the team and to let people know when they hit a good shot, and if you're three courts down, to let other people know. I thought we did that, and we have to do that to be a good team."

 

In doubles action, the Blue Devils had no difficulty breaking serve against the Cowgirls, as two Duke tandems broke serve four consecutive times to cruise to easy 8-0 victories. The duo of junior Marianne Jodoin and sophomore Annie Mulholland took just under 27 minutes to dispatch Alexandra Kovacs and Sasa Nemcova, 8-0 in the No. 2 position, while junior Hanna Mar and sophomore Monica Turewicz downed the duo of Jessica Parizher and Silviya Zhelyazkova, clinching the doubles point. Clayton and sophomore Ester Goldfeld dropped the first five games against No. 52 tandem of Veronica Popovici and Simona Synkova, and were down 6-1 before the match was discontinued.

 

In singles play, Duke rolled through the first set, sweeping Wyoming on all six courts. In the fifth spot, Turewicz cruised past Parizher in the first set, 6-3, and opened the second set by breaking serve twice. Turewicz continued her great play, and rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 win.

 

On court two, Clayton took the first set, 6-4,over Synkova before coming out in the second set and breaking serve twice to set the tone and jump out to a 4-0 lead. After painting the corners with a number of backhands to win the fifth game, Clayton hit an outstanding return, forcing Synkova into an error to round out the match, 6-4, 6-1.

 

Jodoin and Mulholland both carried their solid play from doubles into their singles matches in the sixth and fourth positions respectively, with each jumping out to 4-1 leads in the first set. Jodoin rolled past Christa Gecheva, 6-2, 6-0 to clinch the match, while Mulholland was leading Nemcova, 6-3, 5-1, when the match was stopped.

 

Goldfeld held a 6-4, 4-1 edge when Jodoin clinched the match in the No. 4 spot, while on court one, Mar demonstrated some outstanding defense to keep points alive, and forced Popovici into a number of errors early in the match. After winning the first set 6-2, Mar owned a 2-1 lead when the match was closed out.

 

With her win today, senior Mary Clayton, ranked No. 53 in the most recent ITA poll, became a member of the prestigious 100-win club, a membership that only includes 20 other Blue Devils in the history of the program. Clayton, a native of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., has tallied a 100-31 (.763) career singles record to go along with a 24-5 career ACC record despite starting her Duke career in the spring, a full semester later than her counterparts.  Clayton's win tied her with Karen O'Sullivan for 20th on the all-time career wins list, while Vanessa Webb leads the way with 161 wins in her career at Duke.

 

"My teammates kind of notified me [about the 100th win] and it is a great accomplishment," Clayton said. "It is a proud accomplishment. I thought this weekend as a whole we got better as a team, and that is always good to see, especially when we will have quite a few tough matches, so it was good to see that there was progression throughout the weekend."

 

The Blue Devils are slated to travel to No. 14 Northwestern Feb. 3 for their first away dual-match, before travelling to Charlottesville, Va., for the ITA National Indoor Championships Feb. 8-11. The Blue Devils finished second in the event last season after falling to UCLA in the championship match.

 

Tennis Match Results

Wyoming vs Duke

Jan 27, 2013 at Durham, N.C.

(Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center)

 

#3 Duke 4, #60 Wyoming 0

 

Singles Competition

1. #10 Hanna Mar (DUKE) vs. Veronica Popovici (WYOMING) 6-2, 2-1, unfinished

2. #53 Mary Clayton (DUKE) def. Simona Synkova (WYOMING) 6-4, 6-1

3. #40 Ester Goldfeld (DUKE) vs. Alexandra Kovacs (WYOMING) 6-4, 4-1, unfinished

4. Annie Mulholland (DUKE) vs. Sasa Nemcova (WYOMING) 6-3, 5-1, unfinished

5. Monica Turewicz (DUKE) def. Jessica Parizher (WYOMING) 6-3, 6-1

6. #63 Marianne Jodoin (DUKE) def. Christa Gecheva (WYOMING) 6-2, 6-0

 

Doubles Competition

1. Mary Clayton/Ester Goldfeld (DUKE) vs. #52 Veronica Popovici/Simona Synkova (WYOMING) 1-6, unfinished

2. Marianne Jodoin/Annie Mulholland (DUKE) def. Alexandra Kovacs/Sasa Nemcova (WYOMING) 8-0

3. Hanna Mar/Monica Turewicz (DUKE) def. Jessica Parizher/Silviya Zhelyazkova (WYOMING) 8-0

 

Match Notes:

Wyoming 2-2; National ranking #60

Duke 3-0; National ranking #3

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

T-2:00 A-247