Off Topic ---Womens Tennis

[Dopeshop]

I really enjoy following all the Duke teams and have been very proud of women tennis and golf ,in particular.

This YEAR THE TENNIS TEAM WAS UNDEFEATED ,RANKED # 4 AND THEN THE WHEELS COME OFF . LOSING 5 IN A ROW ,SOME TO UNRANKED SCHOOLS , BLITZED IN FLORIDA ,ALTHOUGH TO GOOD TEAMS


DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY INSIGHT ? EXPLANATION ?

[Bluedog]

I really enjoy following all the Duke teams and have been very proud of women tennis and golf ,in particular.

This YEAR THE TENNIS TEAM WAS UNDEFEATED ,RANKED # 4 AND THEN THE WHEELS COME OFF . LOSING 5 IN A ROW ,SOME TO UNRANKED SCHOOLS , BLITZED IN FLORIDA ,ALTHOUGH TO GOOD TEAMS


DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY INSIGHT ? EXPLANATION ?

While not what the team had hoped for, they are in the midst of a really brutal schedule. The ITA Indoor championships has a funny format with no ad so that puts a lot more pressure on a few key points and if the balls don't bounce your way, it can have a large impact. They started with a tough 4-3 loss to #20 TCU. They then fell to #11 Vanderbilt and #7 Alabama. That field was absolutely LOADED. Who was unranked that they played?

After being indoors, they had outdoor matches finally against #2 Florida and #10 Stanford (who has three players ranked in the top 20 in the country in singles).

Their undefeated record before included wins over W&M, Louisville, Memphis, and a Northwestern. That 5-0 start is solid, but #22 Northwestern was the toughest of the bunch.

The team was pretty clearly overranked, but it's not like they had been previously beating top notch competition and have more recently fallen to weak opponents. Instead, they beat up on decent competition and have unfortunately not been able to match the very top flight teams. I don't think I'd say the wheels have come off, though, which you might think just looking at wins and losses... Just a very tough stretch. No injuries that I'm aware of either.