Photo courtesy of Bill Kallenberg
May 9, 2015
ATHENS, Ga. - An upset at the top of the doubles lineup allowed the Purdue women's tennis team to gain the early lead, but Duke stormed through singles to win a NCAA Championships first round battle, 4-1, outdoors Saturday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The loss brings the Boilermakers' season to a close at 14-9 while appearing in their fourth-consecutive NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils (17-9) advance into the second round where they will take on sixth-seeded Georgia (21-6) Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
Despite suffering an 8-0 loss in the middle of the doubles lineup, Purdue's Nos. 1 and 3 duos came through to secure the point. Natalia Davila and Lynda Xepoleas (10-5) raced out a 5-0 lead on Duke's Chalena Scholl and Annie Mullholland en route to an 8-3 decision at the No. 3 spot.
The point rested on Purdue's 59th-ranked veteran pair of Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum and Daniela Vidal as they squared off against No. 36 Beatrice Capra and Samantha Harris. Bernard-Feigenbaum and Vidal led from start to finish and thwarted a late rally by the Blue Devil team to get an 8-6 upset to put Purdue ahead 1-0.
While knocking off the nation's 36th-ranked pair, the Boilermaker junior and senior registered the highest-ranked doubles opponent defeated by any Old Gold & Black tandem this season. Additionally, Capra and Harris stand as the highest-ranked doubles team Bernard-Feigenbaum and Vidal have defeated in their respective careers. The win lifted their spring mark to 15-6 together.
The dominating play Purdue displayed in doubles went the other way as competition shifted to singles. Duke won the opening set on five of the six courts, giving up no more than three games in those opening sets. Deborah Suarez recorded a 6-1 first-set win over Blue Devil Mullholland in the No. 6 spot. However, her match was abandoned in the second set as the Blue Devils notched wins at Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5.
At No. 2, All-B1G selection Bernard-Feigenbaum rebounded after her first-set loss to blank No. 39 Ester Goldfeld in the second. Like Suarez, Bernard-Feigenbaum's match was abandoned. Suarez and Bernard-Feigenbaum's wins were all that the Boilermakers were able to register in singles.
The loss brought an end to the careers for Purdue's two seniors. In her four years for the Old Gold & Black, Vidal, a native of Maracaibo, Venezuela, amassed a singles record of 88-54 and a doubles mark of 87-44. Xepoleas, who hails from Palm Springs, California, bows out with a 59-55 singles record and 71-44 in doubles.
No. 20 DUKE 4, No. 41 PURDUE 1
Doubles
1. No. 59 Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum/Daniela Vidal (Purdue) def. No. 36 Beatrice Capra/Samantha Harris (Duke), 8-6
2. Ester Goldfeld/Alyssa Smith (Duke) def. Krisztina Kapitany/Nicole Robinson (Purdue), 8-0
3. Natalia Davila/Lynda Xepoleas (Purdue) def. Chalena Scholl/Annie Mullholland (Duke), 8-3
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles
1. No. 84 Beatrice Capra (Duke) def. Daniela Vidal (Purdue), 6-2, 6-1
2. Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum (Purdue) vs. No. 39 Ester Goldfeld (Duke), 1-6, 6-0, 2-5 DNF
3. No. 86 Samantha Harris (Duke) def. Lynda Xepoleas (Purdue), 6-1, 6-4
4. Rachel Kahan (Duke) def. Krisztina Kapitany (Purdue), 6-3, 6-3
5. Chalena Scholl (Duke) def. Nicole Robinson (Purdue), 6-1, 6-2
6. Deborah Suarez (Purdue) vs. Annie Mullholland (Duke), 6-1, 3-5 DNF
Order of finish: 5, 3, 4, 1