May 17, 2001

STONE MOUNTAIN, GA. -- The second-ranked, third seeded Duke women's tennis team advanced to the elite eight with a 4-2 victory over 13th-ranked Texas (21-9) at the Lincoln Tennis Center in Stone Mountain, Ga. on Thursday. The Blue Devils will take on sixth-ranked Vanderbilt (24-4) Friday at 8:00 for the right to advance to the Final Four. Vanderbilt defeated UCLA 4-1 to advance Thursday.

Duke (27-1) came back after losing the doubles point to claim four singles wins to earn the victory. It was the same situation the Blue Devils were faced with on March 4 at Texas and ended up being the same result, a Duke victory.

In doubles action, Duke's 47th-ranked duo of Amanda Johnson/Hillary Adams battled Rebekah Forney/Kaysie Smashey at the second position with the Blue Devils going up 4-1 early. Duke ended up taking a 5-2 lead, but Texas stormed back to cut the Blue Devil lead to 5-5. After the Blue Devils won the next point to go up 6-5, the Longhorns would bounce back to take control and win the match 8-6.

At the first position, the Blue Devils' duo of Ansley Cargill/Megan Miller went up against the 15th-ranked duo of Vladka Uhlirova/Janet Walker. The match went back and forth as it was tied after six points (3-3). The Longhorns would not look back taking five of the next six points to win, 8-4. Right as the doubles point was clinched, Duke's third doubles team of Kathy Sell/Katie Granson were leading 7-4 over Joanne Masongsong/Ziva Grasic and were almost at match point, but the match was abandoned.

Heading into singles action faced with a 1-0 deficit, Duke was in not so familiar territory. It marked the first time since the March 4 match at Texas that Duke had lost a doubles point.

Duke rebounded by going up quickly in four of the six singles matches. At the first and third positions, Cargill and Johnson easily took the first set 6-1, Adams took her first set at number six, 6-3, and Sell went up 5-2 early at the fourth slot, before Forney came back to even the match at 6-6. Sell, ranked 30th nationally, battled to take the first set 7-6 with a 7-4 tiebreaker.

Texas took the first set at the fifth position with a 6-0 victory by Smashey over Granson and 33rd-ranked Walker took the first set, 6-4, over 31st-ranked Miller of Duke to give the Longhorns some momentum.

The Blue Devils would feed off the early lead and finally evened the match with a 6-1, 6-4 victory at the third slot over Forney. The victory for 10th-ranked Johnson took only one hour and 14 minutes and was her 37th singles win of the season. Adams would give the Blue Devils a 2-1 lead as she downed Michelle Krinke, 6-3, 6-3 at number six.

Texas evened the match at 2-2 by taking the fifth position with a 6-0, 6-4 victory by Smashey over Granson. Then, in a matter of 10 minutes second-ranked Cargill downed 35th-ranked Uhlirova 6-1, 7-5 and then Sell took down Forney 7-6, 6-1 for the match-clinching victory. Cargill, playing just 45 minutes from her hometown of Atlanta, Ga., notched her 42nd singles win this season, which is the fifth-best single season total in school history.

Once again, Duke will take on Vanderbilt in the Elite Eight on Friday at 8:00 AM in Stone Mountain, Ga.

Match Notes:

Freshman Ansley Cargill is competing just 45 minutes from her home in Atlanta, Ga.

Post Match Quotes
Duke Coach Jamie Ashworth
On winning despite losing the doubles point:
:We lost the doubles point against them when we played on March 4th, so we have been in that situation before. I think it might have awakened us a bit. I think they thought they would take control after that. I was surprised though, because we were down more than I expected after dropping that point. But we did a good job counteracting that and coming back strong."

On his team possibly looking past Texas:
"No. The majority of our team has never even gotten past the round of 16."

Duke Player Kathy Sell
On losing the doubles point:
"We were down after that because we haven't lost a doubles point since we played Texas last on March 4th. It took a while to get to the point in singles where we said that it's going to be o.k."

Other scores from the day so far
#2 Georgia 5, #15 Baylor 0
#10 Southern California 5, #7 Northwestern 1

#2 Duke (26-1) vs. #13 Texas (21-8)
Final 16 of 2001 NCAA Women's Tennis Tournament
Lincoln Tennis Center/Stone Mountain, Ga.
11:00 AM Start Time

Singles
1) Ansley Cargill (#2), Duke def. Vladka Uhlirova (#35), Texas (6-1, 7-5)
2) Megan Miller (#31), Duke vs. Janet Walker (#33), Texas (abandoned)
3) Amanda Johnson (#10), Duke vs. Joanne Masongsong (#54), Texas (6-1, 6-4)
4) Kathy Sell (#30), Duke vs. Rebekah Forney, Texas (7-6 (7-4), 6-1)
5) Katie Granson, Duke vs. Kaysie Smashey, Texas (0-6, 4-6)
6) Hillary Adams, Duke vs. Michelle Krinke, Texas (6-3, 6-3)

Doubles
1) Ansley Cargill/Megan Miller, Duke vs. Vladka Uhlirova/Janet Walker (#15), Texas (4-8)
2) Amanda Johnson/Hillary Adams (#47), Duke vs. Rebekah Forney/Kaysie Smashey, Texas (6-8)
3) Kathy Sell/Katie Granson, Duke vs. Joanne Masongsong/Ziva Grasic, Texas