July 9, 2004

DURHAM, N.C.- Duke University women's tennis head coach Jamie Ashworth announced on Friday the addition of three student-athletes for the 2003-04 campaign. Lauren Archer of Rockville, Md., Jackie Carleton of Jenkintown, Pa., and Clelia Deltour of Savigny Sur Orge, France will attend Duke in the fall and play tennis.

"I think all three of the newcomers will be a great supplement to what we have returning," said Ashworth. "We had a really young team last year, but each of the three players we have coming in have collegiate or international experience, which was something we lacked last year."

Archer is a junior transfer from Rice University where she was a two-year letterwinner for the Owls. The 2003 Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, Archer recorded a 40-29 singles record and 24-29 doubles mark at Rice. She finished the season listed as 17th in the Southwest Regional Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings.

"Lauren is impressive and will be good for our program because she doesn't care where and if she plays in our lineup," said Ashworth. "She just wants to have the opportunity to be challenged on a day-to-day basis. She will bring a lot of fight and intensity to our matches and our daily practices."

Carleton will arrive at Duke after being selected ITA All-America the last two years at UCLA. She collected a 44-32 overall singles mark with the Bruins, while being ranked as high as 14th in the national singles rankings. A very solid doubles player, Carleton advanced to the finals of the National Indoor Championship and posted a 41-25 ledger.

"Jackie is a two-time All-America and has been in the top-25 national ranking over the last two years," said Ashworth. "She has been very solid in doubles also as she advanced to the finals of the National Indoor Championship last season. She brings in a lot of collegiate experience that will hopefully carry over to the team and will gel well with our squad."

Both Archer and Carleton will be listed as juniors and will have two years of eligibility remaining at Duke. The duo mark the third and fourth transfers Duke has added over the last four years. Julie DeRoo came to Duke in 2001 from Southern Mississippi and Katie Blaszak transferred from Vanderbilt in 2002.

Clelia will be the only incoming freshman for the Blue Devils in the fall, but will bring a great deal of international experience with her. A quarterfinalist at the Senior French Nationals in 2003, she played in the 2002 Junior Roland Garros and was the runner-up at the Prince Cup in 2000. Clelia trained at Roland Garros for our years and was a two-time semifinalist, two-time runner-up and the winner once at the Championship of France in doubles.

"All three will contribute in some way and will be great additions to what we have coming back," commented Ashworth. "We finished sixth in the nation last season and lost only one player [Amanda Johnson] so we will be very deep. Duke has had deep teams in the past, but this team will be the deepest team we have ever had. Our team may or may not have the No. 1 player in the nation, but 1-10 we will be very solid."

Last season, Duke posted a 22-5 overall record and 7-1 ACC mark, while advancing to the NCAA Tournament elite eight with four freshmen and one sophomore on the roster.

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