Wow! What a weekend, what a conference! An ACC team occupied the top spot in the nation for both the men and the women, and on the same weekend, both those teams fall to conference foes.
For the women, it was the top ranked UNC Tarheels hosting the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and getting stung. This felt a little bit like trouble going into the weekend as Ga Tech had been playing extremely well and UNC had been squeaking by with a lot of 4-3 wins lately. That will catch up to you sooner or later in such a competitive conference, and it did on Saturday in Chapel Hill when the 6th ranked Ga Tech squad beat UNC 4-3 (recap and scores can be found here). Perhaps this served as a wake up call for the heels as they returned to action on Sunday and delivered their first shutout of conference play, beating the Virginia Tech Hokies 7-0. A recap and scores can be found here).
UNC travels to Wake on Thursday to play #14 Wake Forest. As for the Yellow Jackets, they completed the sweep of their mini tobacco road swing with a 6-1 victory over the #42 NC State Wolfpack in Raleigh (recap/scores here). Georgia Tech will return home, likely with a top 5 ranking, to face Notre Dame on Friday.
Speaking of the Irish and Tobacco Road, that is precisely where the Notre Dame women were to kick off the weekend against that other Carolina school sitting at #4 nationally, the Duke Blue Devils. Unlike their neighbors in Chapel Hill, the Blue Devils have been not just beating opponents, but winning decisively. In fact, they had not dropped a single court in over a month, and today was no different, beating the Irish 7-0 (recap/box score). On Sunday, they would finally drop a court, but just one, beating Miami 6-1 (recap/box score). Duke will host Florida State on Thursday
#19 Miami traveled to Charlottesville on Friday face off against the #21 ranked Virginia Cavaliers. Not an easy road trip for the Canes, to play #21 on Friday and #4 on Sunday, but such is life in the ACC. They were beaten at UVa 5-2 (recap/box score) and Miami 6-1 (recap/box score). The Cavs then took care of business against an increasingly feisty Pitt team on Sunday, 5-2 (recap/box score). They will be at home again next weekend for an out of conference match against William and Mary before a big match on Saturday against the newly resurgent Seminoles. The bright spot for the Canes on this trip, aside from getting it out of the way, was the lone point they won against Duke. While it may not seem like much it bears mentioning since, as noted previously, Duke had not lost a point in basically forever, and as this involved Miamis Estella Perez-Somarriba defeating the top ranked player in the ACC, Samantha Harris. Next up for Miami is a visit to Winston-Salem for a date with the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest.
Wake hosted another Florida school this weekend when the Fla State Seminoles paid them a visit. The #14 team in the land was riding a 6-game win streak. This streak ended on Friday when the 30th ranked Seminoles beat them 5-2 (recap/box score). They did, however, bounce back on Sunday with a 6-1 win over Notre Dame (recap/box score). Next weekend is huge for Wake Forest as they play UNC and Miami.
Louisville has been an interesting team so far this season and unfortunately this past weekend it made some early-season results appear like perhaps more the exception than the norm, as they lost to both Boston College and Syracuse. Granted, it is a tough road swing and both squads are tougher than their records show, but these are the matches you must win to stay at the top of this conference. Results are here and here. They travel to Durham for a matchup against the Blue Devils on Saturday. It could be a season saver for them to upset Duke in a match they wont be expected to win, but it is a hugely tall order.
Both Florida State and Boston College played out of conference matches and won handily.
Clemson was off this weekend, after a mid-week double header split at USTA national center (def. Yale 4-0; lost to UCF 4-3)
Risers
Georgia Tech
Duke
Florida State
Boston College
Work to do
Louisville
Miami
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