Durham, N.C. - No. 20 Clemson Women’s Tennis (16-6, 6-4 ACC) fell 4-1 to No. 24 Duke (13-5, 7-1 ACC) on Saturday afternoon in Durham.
The No. 35 pair of Senior Jade Groen and Freshman Rinon Okuwaki fell 6-1 to Shavit Kimchi and Irinia Balus on court one to put the Blue Devils ahead 1-0 on the Tigers. On court two, the No. 90 pair of Sophomore Talia Neilson-Gatenby and Senior Romana Cisovska were locked in from the first point, keeping the match close but ultimately falling 7-6 (3) to Liv Hovde and Aspen Schuman. At the time of the doubles point clinch Sophomores Sophie Clayton and Artemis Aslanisvili were tied 5-5 with the No. 84 pair of Eleana Yu and Claire An on court three.
Cisovska evened the match at one point each during singles, defeating Hovde in straight sets 6-0, 6-3. Duke regained its lead soon after as An defeated Neilson-Gatenby 6-2, 6-3 on court four. On court four, Jade Groen battled with #77 Schuman before falling 6-4, 7-5 to put the Blue Devils ahead 3-1. Okuwaki suffered her first singles loss of the season, dropping her match 7-6 (5), 6-2 to #15 Balus, securing the match for Duke.
UP NEXT: Clemson is headed to Weymouth, Mass. to face off with Boston College on Friday, April 10th at 5 p.m. The Tigers will then head to Syracuse, N.Y. for an 11 a.m. match with Syracuse in the regular season finale. The ACC Championships will then begin on April 14th in Cary, N.C.
BOX SCORES:
Doubles (1,2*)
- Kimchi/Balus (DUKE) def. #35 Groen/Okuwaki (CU), 6-1
- Hovde/Schuman (DUKE) def. #90 Neilson-Gatenby/Cisovska (CU), 7-6 (3)
- Clayton/Aslanisvili (CU) were tied #84 Yu/An (DUKE), 5-5 ABD
Singles (3,4,2,1*)
- #15 Balus (DUKE) def. #53 Okuwaki (CU), 7-6 (5), 6-2
- #77 Schuman (DUKE) def. Groen (CU), 6-4, 7-5
- Cisovska (CU) def. Hovde (DUKE), 6-0, 6-3
- An (DUKE) def. Neilson-Gatenby (CU), 6-2, 6-3
- Shavit (DUKE) led. Aslanisvili (CU), 7-6 (1), 3-3 ABD
- Codd (DUKE) led. Bhakta (CU), 6-0, 5-2 ABD