Durham, N.C. - Playing one of the top teams in the country shorthanded, the No. 43-ranked William and Mary women's tennis team opened the 2012 dual-match campaign with a 7-0 setback at No. 3 Duke on Friday night. The Green and Gold was forced to play without one of its top player in sophomore Kayla Rizzolo, who was ranked nationally and led W&M with seven wins during the fall season, while facing a Blue Devil lineup that featured six nationally-ranked singles players.

In doubles action, the Blue Devils jumped on top early with a victory at the No. 3 position, while the Tribe attempted to dig out of early deficits at the top two positions. After falling behind 5-0 at the No. 2 position, the team of junior Anik Cepeda and sophomore Hope Johnson, which competed in the NCAA Doubles Championship last season, won three straight game to pull within 5-3 against Beatrice Capra and Rachel Kahan. The Blue Devil pair though won three of the final four games to clinch the initial point of the match. At the top doubles sport, the Tribe pair of sophomores Jeltje Loomans and Maria Belaya found itself trailing 4-0 early, but won four of five games to close the margin to 5-4. The Duke team of Ester Goldfeld and Mary Clayton were able to hold off the W&M charge though and pull out an 8-6 victory.

In singles, Duke claimed opening wins at the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 6 positions to clinch the team victory. Cepeda turned in a strong performance against No. 66-ranked Mary Clayton at the No. 4 post. After trailing by a break early, the Tribe junior bounced back to take a 6-5 lead in the opening set. Clayton, though, rallied to force an opening set tiebreaker and took the first, 7-6. The Blue Devil player toughed out a 6-3 triumph in the second set against Cepeda.

The Tribe will return to action when it takes part in the ITA Kickoff Week in Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 28-29. The College will open play against No. 28 South Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Bill Moore Tennis Center on the campus of Georgia Tech. The Tribe-Gamecock match-up will be at 10 a.m. with the host and No. 13-ranked Yellow Jackets battling No. 56-ranked Georgia State at 2 p.m.  The winners will face off for a spot in the 16-team ITA National Indoor Championships, Feb. 10-13, in Charlottesville, Va., following the consolation match on Sunday, Jan. 29

#3 Duke 7, #43 William and Mary 0
Singles
No. 1 - #7 Beatrice Capra (Duke) def. Jeltje Loomans (W&M) - 6-1, 6-1
No. 2 - Ester Goldfeld (Duke) vs. Marlen Mesgarzadeh (W&M) - 6-4, 6-2
No. 3 - #38 Hanna Mar (Duke) def. Maria Belaya (W&M) - 6-0, 6-0
No. 4 - #66 Mary Clayton (Duke) def. Anik Cepeda (W&M) - 7-6, 6-3
No. 5 - #118 Rachel Kahan (Duke) def. Hope Johnson (W&M) - 6-4, 6-2
No. 6 - #35 Monica Turewicz (Duke) def. Nina Vulovich (W&M) - 6-1, 6-2
Finishing Order: 6, 3, 1*, 5, 4, 2

Doubles
No. 1 - Goldfeld/Clayton (Duke) def. Loomans/Belaya (W&M) - 8-6
No. 2 - Capra/Kahan (Duke) def. Johnson/Cepeda (W&M) - 8-4
No. 3 - Mar/Turewicz (Duke) def. Mesgarzadeh/Kargl (W&M) - 8-2
Finishing Order: 3, 2*, 1