After a 4-3 win against No. 12 Wake Forest on Thursday, the Miami women’s tennis team (14-7, 8-4 ACC) was fired up and ready to take on fifth-seeded Duke (18-6, 10-2 ACC) in the ACC championship quarter finals on Friday.
With both teams seeded fifth and a recent match in the regular season, the crowd at Cary Tennis Park was anticipating a tough match.
Both teams battled it out for the doubles point, but Miami came out on top.
On court three, Miami’s Daria Volosova and Maria Vargas fell to Duke’s Liv Hovde and Aspen Schuman 6-2.
These pairs faced off against each other in the last match of the regular season with a similar outcome of 6-1.
Miami turned the tables on court two after beating No. 71 Claire An and Eleana Yu 6-4.
The last game against Duke may have been a foreshadowing for court three, but certainly not on the top court.
In the last game on April 12, Miami’s Raquel Gonzalez and Dominika Podhajecka fell 6-2 to Shavit Kimchi and Irina Balus. However in the quarterfinals, Gonzalez and Podhajecka battled it out and barely secured a 7-6 win.
This ultimately gave Miami the point going into the singles matches.
Duke certainly didn’t lose their momentum after losing the doubles point. It was able to control the match, taking the first three singles points.
No. 14 Balus took the top court over No. 42 Gonzalez 6-4, 6-0. This was followed by a Kimchi win over Volosova and a Hovde win over Ogunwale.
Miami was not ready to give up yet, and sophomore Sebastianna Scilipoti kept them in the game after tallying a point for a 6-4, 6-3 two set win over An.
The last two courts were left, with much anticipation.
After a hard-fought battle, Duke’s No. 48 Schuman clinched the win after a three set match going 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. No. 112 Podhajecka and No. 124 Yu were tied when their match was abandoned.
The final score was 4-2 Blue Devils, knocking the Canes out of the ACC championship.
The team will wait for the decision at the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, April 27, which determines if and where their season will continue.
