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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Statement from Beatrice Capra on her Dismissal from Duke; ITA Men's Team Indoor Begins in Seattle Friday

I received the following statement via email from Duke All-American Beatrice Capra regarding her dismissal from the university last month for violation of school policy. The school's announcement is here. In addition to asking Capra about her dismissal, (I had sent her an email with several questions, requesting a response from her, shortly after the school's announcement), I also inquired about her health, as she did not compete regularly in the summer and fall. 

"I have been suspended for an academic code violation.  The violation consisted of handing in an incomplete final paper, lacking proper finalized citations to research sources.  My actions were not intentional but I take full responsibility for my mistakes.  As a student/athlete, I’ve worked hard to  maintain close to a 3.0 GPA and complete extra academic credit requirements.   I feel terrible that I disappointed my family -- as well as my teachers, coaches and teammates – but I am committed to learning and moving forward.  Currently, I have resumed training with my coaches at the Evert Tennis Academy. I also continue to take college courses and look forward to returning to school in the fall. 

Towards the end of last season and through the NCAA’s, I played with a stress fracture in my left foot. After rehabbing for two months, I probably came back too soon and ended up tearing the patella in my left knee – which led to tendonitis in my right knee.  I only played one doubles tournament in the fall, due to the combination of these injuries. I am doing strength and conditioning training but am still limited to practicing only about an hour a day on clay.

I want to thank all the people who reached out to me and supported me during this difficult period."


In addition to losing Capra for this season, Rachel Kahan recently had Tommy John surgery and will not play for the Blue Devils for the remainder of the season.


The ITA Men's Team Indoor begins Friday morning in Seattle, with No. 6 seed Georgia facing No. 12 Ole Miss and No. 14 Tennessee squaring off against No. 3 UCLA at 8 a.m(Pacific).  The 11 a.m. matches are No. 10 Mississippi State vs. No. 7 Kentucky, another all-SEC battle, and No. 15 Texas A&M vs. No. 2 USC.  After Texas A&M's 4-3 win over Ohio State on Sunday in College Station, the Aggies instantly became a dangerous first round opponent, and the defending champion Trojans will not have the luxury of working their way into the tournament.

The 2:30 matches are No. 4 Ohio State versus No. 13 California and No. 5 Pepperdine against No. 11 Florida.  The 5:30 matches feature No. 8 Oklahoma versus No. 9 Duke and top seed Virginia against No. 16 seed and host Washington.

The ITA page for live scoring and video, as well as results, is here.  The ITA tournament preview can be found here.

From conversations I had in Charlottesville, I can confirm the rumor that champion North Carolina is unlikely to play in the Women's Team Indoor next year, joining Stanford and Florida in electing not to compete in this national team championship.  I will have a complete post about this topic in the next few days.

17 comments:

College fan said...

Colette, you say you will have a post in a few days regarding UNC not defending their indoor title next year. Can you also address why all the top men's teams participate in the team indoors year after year, yet increasingly top women's teams are choosing not to take part? Why the discrepancy?

marcoforehand said...

we can hope that UNC decides defending a title makes it worth rethinking their decision

Brent said...

For the Indoors, do they need to post their lineup in advance like NCAA's or not? I'm curious as to what order UVA will go with. The thought of Mitchell Frank playing #4 is unbelievable. They will need to finally get performance out of the bottom of their lineup though if they want to win NCAA's this year.

Also, when were the seeds defined. Based on real-time data, seems like A&M should be materially higher than #15 after beating OSU - rough draw for both A&M and USC. Should be fun.

Brent said...

Indoor predictions...

ROUND OF 16
1 UVA over 16 Washington 4-0
9 Duke over 8 Oklahoma 4-2
4 OSU over 13 Cal 4-2
5 Pepperdine over 11 Florida 4-1
6 Georgia over 12 Ole Miss 4-1
3 UCLA over 14 Tennessee 4-0
7 Kentucky over 10 Miss St 4-2
2 USC over 15 Texas A&M 4-2

QUARTERS
1 UVA over 9 Duke 4-1
4 OSU over 5 Pepperdine 4-1
3 UCLA over 6 Georgia 4-0
2 USC over 7 Kentucky 4-0

SEMIS
1 UVA over 4 OSU 4-0
3 UCLA over 2 USC 4-3

FINALS
1 UVA over 3 UCLA 4-1

I really didn't intend to pick that much chalk, but that's just how I see it at this point. I think there is a big gap between the top three teams and everyone else. I see a dominant performance from UVA. We'll see. Should be fun.



Colette Lewis said...

@Brent:
They do have to submit lineups in advance. Frank is listed as No.3 for UVA after Domijan and Jenkins.
At the Women's Indoor, coaches can submit one deviation from their submitted lineup(in addition to the always available option to scratch a player and move everyone behind them up) in their 3 matches (not the final). I don't believe the Men's Indoor allows that option.

Athens said...

Brent,

I agree with your picks, except I am picking Pepperdine to beat OSU and reach the semifinals and have a rematch of the NCAA semis (that was played indoors) against UVa.

UVa fan said...

Colette, who gets to play the late night match on Saturday, the 5th match of the day starting around 9 or 10 pm? Will it be Washington or the main draw quarterfinal with East Coast UVA?

New Mexico said...

Mitchell Frank will/should move up in the lineup once dual match season starts after he gets in plenty of match play. I can't imagine how UVA can blow it this year in the NCAA's in May - without Steve Johnson against them - UCLA could be the only team to stop them. It's almost impossible not to win with the lineup they have and have had. It's almost like coaching gets in the way.

Capra's letter is meant to be heart-felt and I'm sure was tough to write - but her reasons are trying disguise the issue of copying and plagiarizing. In addition, she said she tore her patella in her knee - but a "patella" is a medical term for a knee. I'm sure she is trying to say - she tore her patellar tendon in her knee. It has been a tough several months for her - but do not feel sorry for a student who cheats and then doesn't proofread her public apology letter.

UVA should easily win the Indoors AGAIN, like they have many times in recent history - just hard to imagine their first break though NCAA moment could happen in a place so obscure, like Champaign, Illinois.

Colette Lewis said...

@UVaFan:
I'm not sure if times have been decided yet. But this was on Washington's website:
"all Washington matches are guaranteed to be played on their campus venue."

Austin said...

almost forgot to make my picks for Indoors


Round of 16

UVA over Wash...4-0
Duke over Okl...4-2
OSU over Cal...4-0
Pepp over Fla...4-2
UGA over Miss...4-3(4-1 if Singh played)
UCLA over Tenn...4-1
State over UK...4-3(closest 1st rd match)
USC over A&M...4-2(great matchup)


Quarterfinals

UVA over Duke...4-0
OSU over Pepp...4-2
UCLA over UGA...4-1(4-3 if Singh played)
USC over State...4-1

Semifinals

UVA over OSU...4-1
UCLA over USC...4-3

Finals

UVA over UCLA 4-2

*i think A&M is one of the top teams, too bad they are playing USC first round

BR said...

New Mexico,

Get off your high horse of judgement; your ramblings could use a lot of proofreading as well. And hopefully you've never once cheated in any way at any time in any place for any reason. Capra has undoubtedly learned a tough lesson, but we all have at some point.

Also, regarding UVA, please explain how coaching gets in the way.

russ said...

Yep, Texas AM's performance was disappointing. Expected a tight match (like the doubles which looked for a few moments as if AM was going to win. But three couldn't hold their lead and two was playing with a sick Shane Vinsant, who had a very subpar day.) Singles really wasn't a contest. Don't know if that means USC is that good or expectations got out of hand for Texas AM after their win against Ohio State.

abc said...

" In addition, she said she tore her patella in her knee - but a "patella" is a medical term for a knee. I'm sure she is trying to say - she tore her patellar tendon in her knee. It has been a tough several months for her - but do not feel sorry for a student who cheats and then doesn't proofread her public apology letter."

You're absolutely right New Mexico. She totally gets what she deserves for writing "patella" instead of "patellar tendon." Every college student athlete must know the exact anatomy of his/her injury, particularly when stating a public apology letter because the public must be 100% informed. I'm sure it was TOTALLY a proofreading mistake. So don't feel sorry for her.

Like, no.

Colette Lewis said...

@UVa Fan

The fifth match on Saturday, scheduled for 8:30 Pacific at Nordstrom Tennis Center, is Washington v Oklahoma. UVA and Duke are at 5:30.

DTblogger said...

I find it refreshing that Beatrice Capra apologized to all who she affected with her error in judgement relative to her academic responsibilities. In this age where so many athletes deny all charges and serve a one game suspension I believe that Ms. Capra will learn far more than she even realizes from this experience and will emerge a stronger and more complete person. I am eager to see her get healthy, work hard and come back to show the Duke community that she means what she says. All the best to you Trice!

Gerry said...

I am not sure everyone will be happy with Capra returning to Duke. The team was let down (not to mention they are now with only 6 players left) and she is training offsite at Everts (also took a year off after high school, last time the full year was allowed, I think). What kind of punishment is that? Sounds more like a sabbatical to me, team is weakened and gets a season less of being super-competitive, while she will enjoy full 4 years? Doesn't sound right to me.

Colette Lewis said...

I'm closing the comments on this post.

I believe a representative number of comments have been posted on Capra's statement, and I don't think keeping this discussion open any longer is productive.

I do not condone Capra's academic transgressions, but to call them a "crime" and to imply that she hasn't suffered because of them is going overboard.

Her willingness to face this and explain it to those of us who did not know the details until she provided them is to her credit, and she has provided other student-athletes with a cautionary tale. Understandably, after she has done so, she should be allowed to look forward, lesson learned.

Capra is out there, on the record, with her name and her actions not in dispute. Those throwing stones at her and at Duke are not required to be as transparent.

For the damage these comments can inflict on those public figures without thick skins, see this entry on tennis player Rebecca Marino in the NYT Straight Sets blog.