Tech drops a 6-1 decision at No. 17 Duke

Francesca Fusinato tops her sixth ranked opponent of the season, moving to 10-5 overall in dual-match play

March 26, 2017

	F
North Carolina	4
Virginia Tech	2
Box Score

BLACKSBURG - The Virginia Tech women’s tennis team suffered a 6-1 setback at No. 17 Duke, Sunday afternoon, at the Ambler Tennis Stadium in Durham, North Carolina.

Senior Francesca Fusinato picked up Tech’s lone singles victory of the day, as she improved her dual-match singles record to 10-5 overall on the year. The Feltre Belluno, Italy, native topped her sixth ranked opponent of the season, upsetting Duke’s No. 49 Samantha Harris in straight sets on court one (6-2, 7-5). She has won three of her last five matches at the No. 1 slot, all of which were against student-athletes ranked inside the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) top-125 poll. Fusinato currently checks into that same poll at No. 108.

Additionally, Fusinato and junior Caroline Daxhelet picked up Tech’s lone doubles victory of the day, upsetting Duke’s No. 25 Meible Chi and Kaitlyn McCarthy on court one by a score of 6-1. The Hokie duo collected their second doubles win of the season and also defeated their second ranked opponent of the year, moving to 2-2 overall in dual-match play. The last time Fusinato and Daxhelet topped a ranked doubles tandem was against Clemson’s then-No. 35 Ayan Broomfield and Marie Leduc on March 12.

Duke (11-3, 5-0 ACC) captured the doubles point, along with three straight singles matches to secure the team victory. Senior Sansitha Nandakumar and junior Katherine Butler suffered setbacks on courts five (6-0, 6-0) and six (6-2, 6-2), respectively, to give the Blue Devils a 3-0 advantage early on.

Junior Elena Cerezo-Codina then fell in straight sets to Duke’s No. 52 Chalena Scholl on court three by a score of 6-3, 6-3. With Scholl’s victory, the Blue Devils clinched the fourth-match point.

Of note, freshman Natalie Novotna, Fusinato and Daxhelet each completed their matches on their respective courts after the fourth-match point was won.

Up next, the Hokies (7-8, 0-6 ACC) will return home for a pair of Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) matches held at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center this weekend. Tech will square off against No. 26 Notre Dame on Friday, March 31, followed by a match against Louisville on Sunday, April 2. The Hokies will take on the Fighting Irish at 3:30 p.m., while the match against the Cardinals is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.

Fans can follow all the action during each match of the 2017 season by following the squad on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Doubles Competition:

No. 1: Caroline Daxhelet/Francesca Fusinato (Tech) def. #26 Meible Chi/Kaitlyn McCarthy (DU), 6-1

No. 2: Chalena Scholl/Alyssa Smith (DU) def. Elena Cerezo-Codina/Natalie Novotna (Tech), 6-1

No. 3: Ellyse Hamlin/Samantha Harris (DU) def. Sansitha Nandakumar/Luisa Uscocovich (Tech), 6-4

Singles Competition:

No. 1: #108 Francesca Fusinato (Tech) def. #49 Samantha Harris (DU), 6-2, 7-5

No. 2: #25 Meible Chi (DU) def. Natalie Novotna (Tech), 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (11-9)

No. 3: #52 Chalena Scholl (DU) def. Elena Cerezo-Codina (Tech), 6-3, 6-3
No. 4: #76 Kaitlyn McCarthy (DU) def. Caroline Daxhelet (Tech), 6-0, 7-6 (8-6)

No. 5: Alyssa Smth (DU) def. Sansitha Nandakumar (Tech), 6-0, 6-0

No. 6: Ellyse Hamlin (DU) def. Katherine Butler (Tech), 6-2, 6-2

Order of Finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (5,6,3,2,1,4)

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