NCAA Division I Tennis Championships

Women’s Round of 16

May 15, 2009

George P. Mitchell Tennis Center

College Station, Texas

 

#3 Duke 4, #14 Arkansas 2

RECORDS: Duke 26-3; Arkansas 15-8

 

SINGLES

1. #6 Mallory Cecil (Duke) def. #2 Aurelija Miseviciute (UA), 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-1

2. #37 Ellah Nze (Duke) vs. #77 Anouk Tigu (UA), 7-6 (2), 4-5, DNF

3. #30 Reka Zsilinszka (Duke) def. Ela Kaluder (UA), 6-4, 6-2

4. #91 Amanda Granson (Duke) def. Emily Carbone (UA), 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-2

5. #122 Melissa Mang (Duke) def. Nanar Airapetian (UA), 6-0, 6-3

6. Kate Lukomskaya (UA) def. Jessi Robinson (Duke), 6-4, 6-3                     

DOUBLES

1. #20 Airapetian/Tigu (UA) def. #22 Granson/Mang (Duke), 8-4

2. #53 Robinson/Cecil (Duke) vs. #45 Miseviciute/Kaluder (UA), 7-6, DNF

3. Carbone/Lukomskaya (UA) def. Zsilinszka/Nze (Duke), 8-6

 

ORDER OF FINISH:

Doubles: 3, 1

Singles: 6, 5, 3, 4, 1

 

POSTMATCH NOTES

Duke will take on sixth-seeded Miami in the quarterfinals on Sunday, May 17 at noon (CT). The Blue Devils reach the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time since 2006.

 

POSTMATCH QUOTES

Duke Head Coach Jamie Ashworth

“I was disappointed in our doubles, not necessarily that we lost, but because it seemed like we were sitting back and hoping. We were hoping they would miss, instead of controlling the tempo of the match. Over the last couple of weeks, we had been doing a really good job of doing that. It’s the first doubles point we have lost in over a month. In the singles, I thought we did a great job. There’s not a situation that we haven’t been in previously. We’ve lost the doubles point to good teams and won the match. We’ve won the doubles point and won the match, so there is no unfamiliar territory. The singles was a great effort all the way through. I was really happy with how we competed. We probably took Arkansas’ best shot and that’s something we can build on to play Miami on Sunday.”

 

Duke Freshman Mallory Cecil

“My serve really helped me out a lot. I depended on that and it came through for me. Once I had that figured out, I was really happy with the tactic that I had.”

 

Arkansas Head Coach Michael Hegarty

“It was obviously a really high-quality match. We knew that their team didn’t have too many holes in it, so to compete with them, we would have to have a lot of people firing at their best and we almost did that. We didn’t fire everywhere, but I think we probably fired in five out of seven points. The bright spots were that we approached the match really well and we were willing to win the doubles and willing to go out there and play for it all. If you take a bright spot, it was that our younger players played really well.”