Notre Dame

Thursday was a tough day for Duke Women's Tennis. We lost to Notre Dame 5-2. Prior to this we had only one loss this season to Northwestern at the National Indoors. We had been doing extremely well and quickly rising to the number three national ranking, the highest ranking our team has achieved for quite some time. Presently, we are on spring break and have been practicing all week for this match up against the Irish, who are right behind us as the number four ranked team. I felt our team was intense during our practices and was ready to compete. We focused intensely on doubles drills because capturing the doubles point in a dual match is crucial to the momentum needed for the singles matches. Fortunately, we were able to win the doubles point. Jess and Mal played great and won their match at #2 , scoring 8-5, before Reka and I clinched it with a score of 8-6 at #3. Singles, however, was not as successful as doubles; we lost five of our six singles matches. I was first off the court winning my match 6-2, 6-2. I felt I played well and was relieved to be off the court quickly. After I got off the court, I was able to watch and cheer for my teammates, who collectively were in close matches on every court. Even though our team did not come out on top, everyone fought until the last point and gave it their best effort. I think in this situation, we just have to give Notre Dame credit because after losing the doubles point, they were fired up and simply outplayed us. Although we were all very disappointed with the loss, it is not the end for our team. We are a resilient group of players and will be back on the road this coming Thursday, traveling back to Florida to begin ACC matches against Florida State and University of Miami. Upon completion of this Thursday's matches, everyone got a little break: some going home, others visiting Disney to relax and enjoy the remainder of spring break. Today we return to the court to begin practice and rebound from our upset. A couple of days of rest, practice and fine tuning a few areas in our game, will provide us with the energy and tools needed to compete this weekend. Thanks for reading about our spring break competition.