Women's Tennis Falls to No. 3 Duke

Friday, January 27

Durham, N.C.

2:00 PM

College of Charleston

Duke

1/27/2012 11:55:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: CofCSports.com

DURHAM, N.C. - The College of Charleston women's tennis team suffered a 7-0 defeat to the third-ranked Duke Blue Devils on Friday afternoon in the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center in the opening round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

The Cougars will conclude the weekend with a match against Winthrop on the same location on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 9 a.m. Follow along with the match at GoDuke.com.

"We held our own early on in the doubles," said head coach Angelo Anastopoulo. "I was real proud of them for the way we showed up but in the end Duke was just too tough. In singles as well, we held our own early and the girls fought hard but they are number three in the nation for a reason. Our girls competed hard and gave it everything they had."

The match opened with doubles play where sisters Caroline Newman (Greensboro, N.C.) and Christin Newman (Greensboro, N.C.) suffered an 8-2 loss to Hanna Mar and Annie Mulholland at No. 3 doubles. Moments later, the Blue Devils earned the doubles point when Duke's No. 2 doubles pair Rachel Kahan and Beatrice Capra downed CofC's Kelly Kambourelis (Melbourne, Fla.) and Jenny Falcone (Davidson, N.C.) by the same set score.

In the third doubles match, CofC's No. 1 pairing of Samantha Maddox (Lexington, Ky.) and Irene Viana (Paris, France) were giving Duke's No. 1 pairing of Mary Clayton and Ester Goldfeld all they could handle and trailed just 5-3 when the other matches concluded.

The Cougars fought well through the singles matches but Duke's four nationally-ranked players and deep lineup proved to be too much in the end.

"We learned a lot out there and will have to apply those things to beat a very tough Winthrop team on Sunday," said Anastapoulo. "This is the first time we'll play them on a neutral site. They've won their conference championship several times and just upset a very strong Wake Forest team last week.

"This match is definitely going to be a challenge and we'll need our upperclassmen to continue what they've been doing. Our freshmen are learning each match and we'll need to be at our best to beat a very well-coached Winthrop team."

(3) Duke 7, College of Charleston 0
Jan. 27, 2012
Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center
at Durham, N.C.

SINGLES
No. 1 - (7) Beatrice Capra (Duke) def. Christin Newman (CofC), 6-1, 6-1
No. 2 - (38) Hanna Mar (Duke) def. Caroline Newman (CofC), 6-0, 6-1
No. 3 - (117) Rachel Kahan (Duke) def. Kelly Kambourelis (CofC), 6-0, 6-0.
No. 4 - Ester Goldfield (Duke) def. Samantha Maddox (CofC), 6-3, 6-0.
No. 5 - (66) Mary Clayton (Duke) def. Jenny Falcone (CofC), 6-1, 6-1.
No. 6 - Monica Gorny (Duke) def. Olivia McMillan (CofC), 6-1, 6-1.