Coming off two wins to kick off the Spring season, William and Mary was no match for No. 3 Duke Saturday, falling 7-0 to the Blue Devils in North Carolina.
As the final would indicate, it was all Duke all day as the Blue Devils quickly clinched the doubles point in dominant fashion when the College’s pairing of juniors Maria Belaya and Jeltje Loomans fell at the No. 1 spot to Mary Clayton and Ester Goldfield 8-1 and Duke’s Marianne Jodoin and Annie Mulholland topped senior Anik Cepeda and freshman Leeza Nemchinov, 8-2.
With the doubles point decided, the No. 3 matchup between Duke’s pair of Hanna Mar and Monica Turewicz and the Tribe’s duo of juniors Hope Johnson and Sydney Smith with the College trailing 6-3.
When singles play got under way it was more of the same. The first match to go final was in the No. 4 spot, when Mulholland bested Cepeda 6-0, 6-2, giving Duke a 2-0 advantage overall.
Next, Turewicz dominated Smith in the No. 6 spot by the same score. When Belaya fell to Mar 6-2, 6-1 in the No. 1 slot, the overall match was clinched for the Blue Devils.
For good measure, though, Duke didn’t stop there. Jodoin defeated Johnson, 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 5 matchup before Clayton took down Loomans 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 2 spot to give Duke a 6-0 lead.
Nemchinov put up a fight against Goldfield in No. 3 contest, taking a 5-4 lead in the first set. But the Blue Devils ultimately sealed the shutout when Goldfield came out on top, 7-5, 6-4.
The loss followed a 6-1 win over Richmond and a victory over UMBC by the same score, leaving the College with a 2-1 record as it heads into a matchup with Mississippi at home Tuesday.