College Tennis News - Duke Squeeze Past FSU, 4-3

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The No. 30-ranked Florida State women's tennis team dropped a tight 4-3 match to No.9 Duke at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center, moving to 12-6 (4-4 ACC) on the season.

"We're disappointed with the loss against Duke," head coach Jennifer Hyde said. "We put ourselves to into a perfect position to knock off a very good team. It's frustrating to see an opportunity like that slip from our hands."

In doubles, Duke forfeited its court three match, giving the Seminoles the advantage for the point.

Grabbing the 1-0 lead for FSU was senior Amy Sargeant and Mia Vriens as they dominated on court two, beating Annie Mulholland and Marinne Jodoin, 8-2. With that win, Vriens and Sargeant continued their six-match winning streak, moving to 13-4 on the year as a pair.

Senior Francesca Segarelli and sophomore Daneika Borthwick were tied with Hanna Mar and Mary Clayton 4-4 on court one when play was stopped.

In singles, the Blue Devils gave up a point on court six, making the score 2-0 in favor of the Seminoles.

Duke cut the lead in half after Jodoin (No.99) defeated sophomore Kerrie Cartwright on court four, 6-2, 6-4.

Junior Kristina Schleich controlled her match on court five, defeating Nicole Lipp 6-0, 6-2.

With the Seminoles in front 3-1 and three matches left in play, the duals on courts three and four were forced into third sets.

Duke added its second point after Clayton (No.110) outlasted Segarelli (No.118) on court two. Segarelli was down 0-3 in the first before coming back to take the lead 6-5. Clayton tied the set 6-6 forcing a tiebreak. After Clayton edged out Segarelli in the tiebreak 8-6, she took the match 7-6 (8-6), 6-1.

Sargeant held Mulholland out of the first set 6-1, however Borthwick (No. 53) dropped her first set 6-3 to Mar (No.23) before storming back to take the second, 6-2.

In their respective decisive sets, both Borthwick and Sargeant fell behind 3-1.

On court one, Mar came on strong, and knotted the score 3-3 after defeating Borthwick 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.

With the match tied, Sargeant broke a game and held serve as she rallied to tie the third, 4-4 on court three. However, Mulholland survived Sargeant's charge, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, handing the Seminoles their sixth loss on the year.

"At this point in the season when you have a lead like that you've got to finish the job," Hyde said. "Good teams do that consistently and it's disappointing that we let that one slip. More importantly we need to get ourselves ready for a top-ranked UNC team on Sunday."

Florida State is back on court on Sunday at 12 p.m. to face No.1 North Carolina. The Seminoles will recognize both Sargeant and Segarelli for their achievements throughout their careers before the match.

The match is scheduled to take place at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center. For more information, check back to Seminoles.com, Facebook and Twitter.