March 31, 2004
DURHAM, N.C. - The 22nd-ranked Wake Forest women's tennis team jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on third-ranked Duke, but the Blue Devils took the final five singles matches to defeat the Demon Deacons, 5-2, in ACC women's tennis action from the Ambler Tennis Stadium. Wake Forest took the early advantage by winning the coveted doubles point. Liz Proctor and Karin Coetzee downed Kristin Cargill and Jennifer Zika, 8-4, at the third slot, but Duke's Tory Zawacki and Julia Smith came back to win, 8-4, at the No. 1 position over Ashlee Davis and Katie Martzolf. The doubles point came down to the second position as Danielle Schwartz and Aimee Smith battled Amanda Johnson and Saras Arasu. The match went back and forth as Duke led 6-5 late, but the Demon Deacons charged back to win the match, 9-7, and grab an early advantage. In singles action, Wake Forest jumped out to an early lead in most of the courts and 22nd-ranked Coetzee cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Duke's Zika at the second position to give the Demon Deacons a 2-0 lead. The junior has now registered back-to-back victories since her four-match losing streak. Coetzee is now 8-6 this season. The Blue Devils stormed back after to win the next five singles matches. Leading the Duke charge was Smith at the fourth position as she cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 win over Proctor and 93rd-ranked Arasu came back from being down 3-0 in the first set to win 6-4, 6-0 over Schwartz at No. 5. The win for Arasu was her 10th straight in singles action.
Zawacki notched a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Martzolf at the third slot, Cargill recorded a 6-4 6-1 win over Smith at No. 6 and seventh-ranked Johnson collected a 7-6, 6-1 win over Davis at the top position. Davis was looking for her third consecutive victory over a top-30 player -- and second straight over a top-10 foe.
With the victory, Duke improves to 13-1 and 4-0 in the ACC, while the Demon Deacons drop their record to 9-8 overall and 1-4 in the ACC. The Blue Devils have now captured 18 consecutive duals overall -- six straight over Wake Forest. Duke has not dropped a regular season dual since since April 5, 1999 -- a span of 32 straight ACC regular season contests. The Blue Devils last regular season loss came by the hands of the Deacs. Wake Forest returns to action this Tuesday, April 6 against 13th-ranked Texas. First-serve at Leighton Tennis Stadium is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. |
