Jamie Ashworth- The all-time winningest women's head coach in the ACC

Dear Wonderful Fans,

I hope you are all having a wonderfully sunny Monday! The last two weeks have been extremely busy for us with four tough ACC-regular season matches. But, we’re all really happy with our four wins thus far and hope to keep improving leading up to the tournament season.

This weekend was a remarkable time for our program, and more specifically, our coach Jamie Ashworth who made history and became the winningest women’s head coach in the ACC’s after our win against UVA. We are all extremely proud of Jamie for this accomplishment and feel honored to be part of such a program. So, it is only fitting that I provide you with the inside scoop behind our accomplished head coach.

From a tennis standpoint, the results speak for themselves. Its not often that you see a coach with the ability to improve a program the way Jamie has done. DWT has risen to a top-5 caliber team and was ranked as high as 1 in 2009. Amongst the amazing wins record and the quality of recruits to our program (just take a look at our current freshman class for a prime example), Jamie led the 2009 DWT team to win our program’s first NCAA Championship. As if this is not enough, Jamie has multiple ACC championships and ACC regular season championships under his belt. I could probably spend this whole blog and another one listing all of Jamie’s amazing accomplishments but I’m sure the above snapshot gives you a sneak peak. But what about our candy- eating and Mountain Dew -drinking off-court head coach?

Jamie’s love for candy and junk foods is something that we’re all grateful for because we all end up getting a share of the treats in most instances. On just about any trip, there are stashes of caramel apple lollipops (our favorite), jellybeans and various other goodies hidden around just waiting to be discovered. He does not know this yet but on our trip this weekend, we found his jellybeans in the front of the van and may or may not have stolen a few.

From a junk food’s perspective, our annual trips to California come to mind. Whether it is for the All-American tournament or a dual match, we find ourselves enjoying the LA celebrity scene once in a while. Every time we’re in that part of the country, our trip is not complete without a visit to one of Jamie’s favorite dining places— IN-N-OUT Burger. I’m not denying the fact that we all enjoy the occasional junk-food splurge but the excitement that this “sacred” place causes for Jamie (and I must mention Marc here as well), is probably one of the main reasons why this has become an enjoyable junk-food destination for our team. Oh, and of course Jamie has his very own IN-N-OUT Burger shirt (or a couple?) that he whips out once in a while to attest to his love for this chain.

Finally, I cannot forget about Jamie’s avid enthusiasm for busting out into song once in a while. Play a Jimmy Buffet song, and you’re in for a treat. We’ve definitely had our fair share of trips involving some amazing choruses… usually high-pitched and a “tiny” bit out of tune, but amazing nevertheless. And, of course, for all the Jimmy Buffet enthusiasts out there, dining at a Margaritaville is a must, making it another predetermined team destination whenever the opportunity presents itself. Jamie’s hope is to one day become Jimmy Buffet’s buddy… ask him about his plan of action towards achieving this goal and you may be surprised at how genius and well thought out it is!

All jokes aside, Jamie’s coaching and management of our team has made Duke one of the most desired places to attend. I can think of multiple tennis players whose aspiration is to play on this team. We’re all very fortunate to come to an institution of this caliber and be part of a program that Jamie has molded into one of the best in the country, and world for that matter.

GO JAMIE!

Next on our schedule is a trip down to Clemson on Friday and then to Georgia Tech on Sunday. These are two great opportunities and we’re all excited to show them what we’ve got.

GO DUKE!

Yours in tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT

DWT Spring Break 2012: Dinsey and a whole lot more...

Dear Wonderful Fans,

I hope that you all had a wonderful spring break! This time of year is probably one of our team’s favorites since we are finally able to play outdoors and enjoy some beautiful sunshine. Last week was definitely one of the most memorable of all DWT trips. We began our spring break trip in the snowy cold with a big win over Notre Dame. We then jetted off to Orlando, Florida where the real, child-like fun began.

For the serious college students that we try to be during the school year, we are not afraid to let our “happy child” sides shine when given the chance. That’s exactly why Jamie’s surprise plans throughout the week were met with squeals, giggling and joy. On day one, we spent the whole day bustling around Universal and Island of Adventure. We warmed up our roller coaster riding with “The Hulk” and then quickly ran off to join the line for the Harry Potter adventures. Our team Hogwarts boff, Hanna, made sure that we knew some background information and exactly where to go as we moved through the amazingly recreated wizarding world. The magical tour would not be complete without a delicious “butter beer” which we waited over half and hour in line for— Definitely worth the wait. Other highlights from our exciting first day includes going on the “rock n’ roll” roller coaster as well as eating the famous turkey legs that are served throughout Disney.

Day two was no less exciting as we spent half the day at Magic Kingdom. The team favorite was definitely the “Space Mountain” ride but “Splash Mountain,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and the “Monsters Inc.” show were all wonderful! Thanks to Big Ray and Hanna’s efforts to find us fast passes, we managed to do all of this and save some time for character searching at the end. I’m pleased to say that Jamie found both Winnie the Pooh and Tigger to have his photo with and we happened to stumble upon Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck in the parade. I can confidently conclude that DWT is definitely “Disneyed out” from our wonderful adventures!

Just as we thought that there were surely no more plans because of what we had already been treated to, Jamie surprised us with tickets to a Cirque du Soleil show called “La Nouba.” We were all astounded at how talented the acrobats, jugglers, jump ropers and dancers were. This was a first time experience at this type of a show for a lot of us and we were definitely blown away by what we saw.

While we were enjoying all these fun activities (I forgot to mention shopping at the outlet stores), we also spent our mornings practicing and getting used to the outdoor conditions. I think that all the girls will agree that this was a great week of practice that prepared us well for our match against UCF where we won 7-0 and set the foundations for our outdoor season ahead. Next, we travel to Gainesville for our matchup against Florida this Wednesday. Our next home match will be next Saturday at noon against NC State. Come out and cheer us on!

FINAL NOTE: Overall, spring break was a great experience both on and off the court and I would like to especially thank the people that made this all possible for us— Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield. Thanks to these wonderful people, we were able to experience these memorable moments and grow closer as a team. Mr. and Mrs. Sheffield have done so much for Duke Tennis and we are all extremely grateful to have their continued support for our program.

GO MR. AND MRS. SHEFFIELD…. AND DUKE!

Yours in tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT.

40th Anniversary of Duke Women's Athletics

Dear Wonderful Fans,

Thank-you so much for coming out and supporting us against VCU this weekend! It’s difficult to compete with a men’s basketball game being scheduled at the same time so we are very grateful for your attendance and support.

40^th anniversary celebrations: As I’m sure you all know, Duke athletics was celebrating the 40^th anniversary of Duke women’s athletics this weekend. It was such a treat for all of us to get to know some of the older alumni as well as see some of our beloved familiar faces that graduated within the past few years. We all attended a dinner on Friday night where we got the chance to talk to the alumni. Additionally, some current and past athletes gave wonderful speeches where they reminisced on their experiences at Duke. This once again showed us how lucky we are to be part of DWT and how the friendships and support network that we form on our team will travel with us beyond Duke and hopefully in the future, we will also come together at these events and be able to look back fondly on our Duke experience.

DWT Tennis Clinic: Last Sunday, we hosted a very well received clinic for children between the ages of 7 and 15 from different tennis clubs in Durham. Initially, the clinic was intended to introduce The Girls Club mentoring program mentees to tennis and our team but unfortunately, they were unable to attend. However, we were pleased to host over 20 children! We played some really fun games throughout the morning with some “snack breaks” as a little boy labeled the breaks in between the games where everyone would run and grab a little treat from the assorted cookies, bars and snack packets that we had available for them. At the end of the fun-filled morning, each child went away with some form of Duke memorabilia in addition to what we hope is a fond memory of spending some time on court with us. All in all, this was a great event for the children and for us, and we hope to host one again in the near future!

This week, we travel to Notre Dame to play on Saturday at 3:30 PM! This should be a great match and we hope that you follow our results online.

GO DUKE!

Yours in Tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT.

National Team Indoors: Finals Day

Dear Wonderful Fans,

Unfortunately, things did not go our way today against UCLA. However, the score definitely does not reflect the battle out there. The matches were all very close, with every girl fighting back and making UCLA work for it until the very end. With a few points here and there, the match could have easily gone our way.

After the match, Jamie emphasized that we should take this match as a learning experience and as a measure of what we are capable of achieving. We will have many more similar opportunities ahead of us to battle through and we will be better prepared the next time we’re in this position. As one would expect, we were not very happy chappies today but this tournament proved to us that we have the capabilities to be the best team out there, both on and off court.

Personally, I am really proud to be part of DWT. Having four freshmen on the team that have both the motivation and maturity to work this hard and support the team is a rarity and we have the privilege of having four such girls on this team. If nothing else, this tournament gave us the opportunity to learn a little more about ourselves and each other and it brought our DWT friendship circle even closer together— and at the end of the day, those are the memories that have a lasting impact.

For now, it is back to school and back to the books as we all have some catching up to do… Our next home match is against VCU on Saturday, February 25^th …. We hope you can all make it out to support us!

GO DUKE!

Yours in Tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT.

National Team Indoors: Day 3

Dear Wonderful Fans,

We’re in the finals of National Team Indoors!!!!! It is difficult to describe how excited and honored we feel to be in this position to play for the title tomorrow. Today’s match was a great show of DWT energy and support that Cal Berkeley had no answers to. We definitely hope to build on this tomorrow as we go into the battle for the title against UCLA… We’re looking to give it our best shot and leave everything out on the court.

Since it is Grammy Award night and we’re all glued to the TV screen, it’s only right that I talk about DWT music. Besides things such as gum and frozen yoghurt that are an essential part of DWT life, we are also very much into our music. Whether it is 6AM before a match or just before we go to bed, all the girls on this team enjoy a wide variety and genres of music. Our song of the tournament has been “The Champ” by Nelly. Marc has made it a ritual to play it just before and after our matches and it’s definitely an inspiration to us.

Here’s a selection of some of our current favorites. There’s something for everyone so download and ENJOY! :

Locker room song: Chicken Fried- Zac Brown Band

Annie: Smooth Criminal - Michael Jackson

Trice: Glad You Came- The Wanted

Moni T.: Collide- Leona Lewis and Avicci

Ester: Till I Collapse- Eminem

Hanna: All We Are-One Republic

Big Ray: I’m Shipping Up To Boston- Dropkick Murphys

Mary: Next to You- Chris Brown

Mo G.: Summer Girl-Leighton Meester

We play at 11AM tomorrow and just to remind you again, you can get our scores and updates on GoDuke.com.

GO DUKE!

Yours in tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT

National Team Indoors: Day 2

Dear Wonderful Fans,

Day two of National Team Indoors down and DWT is up and rolling into the semifinals! The match today was a major improvement on yesterday with everyone really coming out with a ton of energy and getting the job done in an efficient manner, beating Michigan 4-0. I think everyone played with passion out there and we did a good job supporting each other, which made the playing a lot easier. As always, we wish you were here supporting us but we were treated to some parents in the stands today— Hanna’s, Ray’s and Trice’s parents were all here cheering and bringing the Duke loudness all the way to Charlottesville which was awesome to hear!

Some random DWT news: Each season, we have a team that is known for some sort of tradition or superstitious behavior. Past teams have had to eat the same breakfasts before matches, others need to listen to a specific playlist before matches, but I don’t think we’ve ever had a team that has been so attached to gum-chewing as this year’s team. Last night, I was surprised to find out that Mal, who always seems so calm and composed during the matches, uses gum as a way to steer superstition in our favor. Every time a person loses a game or seems to lose a couple of points, Mal chews a new piece of gum and throws the other one out, even if she’s only been chewing it for a couple of minutes. Needless to say, once the match is over, she has chewed up a whole pack of gum. Additionally, she only chews fruity gum during the day and mint gum in the evenings… I haven’t asked her whether this is also a superstitious ritual, but it’s amusing nonetheless.

While superstition might not be everyone’s reason for chewing gum, most of us go through at least a pack a day. Trice may be one of the most notorious gum chewers DWT has ever had. So when you come to our next match and you don’t have gum on you, we’ll probably have a stash in our pockets and we’re always willing to share!

Tomorrow, we play Cal Berkeley in the semifinal round. We’re very excited for this opportunity and we’re ready to bring our best game!

GO DUKE!

Yours in Tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT

National Team Indoors: Day 1

Dear Wonderful Fans,

The first day of the tournament was a tough battle but we came out on top, beating Ole Miss 4-3. We wish you had been here to enjoy the nail-biter because your cheering and support always helps us through and makes it more fun out there for us!

This morning, Jamie talked about how we are all here for the team and every individual is important to the success of the team. I think we definitely put this into practice on the court today and did a good job of battling, supporting and pushing through to the end. Even though the girls will agree with me when I say we all could have probably played better, I think that we definitely set the tone of striving to improve throughout the tournament and the support that we have for each other will be a defining factor as we move forward. With this, I want to refer to one of my favorite quotes— “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” We proved that we’re in this together today and we’re going to be even better at it tomorrow and let the results take care of themselves.

I’d like to draw special attention to Annie Mulholland who clinched the match for us today. Being a senior, I can tell you that being the last one out there in that atmosphere and having the responsibility of winning for your team is one of the toughest things to do. However, it is also one of the most satisfying and amazing feelings to achieve. Annie played her heart out there today and showed true leadership by the way she fought against a sporadic opponent and maintained her composure until the end. She’s a freshman but she showed that she’s going to fight for this team until the end. She might not always be successful but her efforts and her heart out there will be the things that the team appreciates more than any win.

Tomorrow we play our quarterfinal round against Michigan at noon... As always, we wish you were here but check GoDuke to follow our scores and I will keep you posted through this blog.

GO DUKE!

Yours in Tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT