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BLACKSBURG, Va. – The 68th-ranked Virginia Tech women’s tennis squad dropped a tough contest for the doubles point, and could not recover in singles play, as the Hokies fell to fifth-ranked Duke, 6-1, on Friday at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center in Blacksburg, Va.

Duke capitalized on the momentum of winning the doubles point and quickly won in the No. 4, No. 5 and No. 3 singles matches to put the Hokies away. The Blue Devils’ Mary Clayton dispatched freshman Emily Lauten (Marietta, Ga.), 6-0, 6-1, to start the rally. Sophomore Courtney Rauscher (Evans, Ga.) fell to Monica Gorny, 6-0, 6-2, while sophomore Shannon Betts (Newnan, Ga.) lost to No. 39 Reka Szilinszka, 7-5, 6-0. With Betts’ loss, the Blue Devils sealed the match.

After sophomore Martha Blakely suffered defeat in the No. 2 singles bout, 6-2, 6-3, to 62nd-ranked Elizabeth Plotkin, junior Holly Johnson got the Hokies in the scoring column, taking down Duke’s Jessica Stiles, 6-2, 6-3. Junior Yasmin Hamza could not overcome a close defeat in the first set, as she fell to 40th-ranked Ellah Nze, 7-5, 6-2, to close out the match.

The two teams battled for the doubles point to begin the match. After Duke’s tandem of Clayton/Gorny dropped Blakely/Lauten 8-0 at No. 2 doubles, Hamza/Johnson brought the Hokies back with an 8-6 win over the Blue Devils’ Plotkin/Zsilnszka at No. 1 doubles. The pivotal match at No. 3 doubles came down to the wire, as Betts/Raucher and Nze/Stiles of Duke fought to a tie at 8-8, but the Blue Devils duo captured the final point to win the matchup, 9-8, and secure the doubles point for Duke.

The Hokies do not get a break in the difficult schedule, as they next face top-ranked North Carolina on Saturday. The match is scheduled for 1 p.m., at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center. Results will be available on hokiesports.com.


#5 Duke 6, #68 Virginia Tech 1
Singles
1. #40 Ellah Nze (Duke) def. Yasmin Hamza (VT) 7-5, 6-2
2. #62 Elizabeth Plotkin (Duke) def. Martha Blakely (VT) 6-2, 6-3
3. #39 Rebe Zsilinszka (Duke) def. Shannon Betts (VT) 7-5, 6-0
4. Mary Clayton (Duke) def. Emily Lauten (VT) 6-0, 6-1
5. Monica Gorny (Duke) def. Courtney Rauscher (VT) 6-0, 6-2
6. Holly Johnson (VT) def. Jessica Stiles (Duke) 6-2, 6-3

Order of finish: 4,5,3*,2,6,1

Doubles
1. Hamza/Johnson (VT) def. Plotkin/Zsilinszka (Duke) 8-6
2. Clayton/Gorny (Duke) def. Blakely/Lauten (VT) 8-0
3. Nze/Stiles def. Betts/Rauscher (VT) 9-8

Order of finish: 2,1,3*

For updates on Virginia Tech women's tennis, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_WTennis).