After watching its 11-game winning streak get snapped last weekend, Duke returns home with a chance for revenge against N.C. State.
The No. 15 Blue Devils return to Cameron Indoor Stadium, where they have a 13-0 record this season, for their final two matches of the season. They begin with the Wolfpack Wednesday at 2 p.m. before concluding the regular season with senior night Friday at 3 p.m. against North Carolina.
"When we go on these road trips, we're gone from Friday to Sunday, and that's a challenge for these student-athletes," Duke head coach Jolene Nagel said. "It's exciting to be home just because... we've had to play in their facilities and that's not easy."
Duke (25-4, 16-2 in the ACC) was swept by then-No. 19 Florida State Sunday, their first loss since Oct. 13—when they fell to the Wolfpack in Raleigh. The Blue Devils battled in the first two sets, and ended up locked at 22-22 in each. Florida State, however, was able to pull away due to 20 Duke attack errors and a 15-kill performance by sophomore outside hitter Nicole Walch. The Seminoles handily defeated the Blue Devils 25-17 to take the match.
"It's not that we played poorly, we played pretty well," Nagel said. "Maybe that's why it was hard to watch. We were so close but just didn't finish on a couple of things to make the difference."
Duke’s battle with Florida State resembled its earlier match with N.C. State this season. Although the Blue Devils took command of the match with a 25-22 win in the first set, the Wolfpack (20-10, 11-7) fought back to notch 25-15, 25-21 and 25-21 victories.
Two key pieces to N.C. State’s victory against Duke—and its defense all season—were liberos Alston Kearns and Rachel Eppley, who combined for 19 digs against the Blue Devils. Kearns leads the Wolfpack with 448 digs on the season, and Eppley is third with 242. Both have appeared in every set N.C. State has played this season.
Powering N.C State’s attack this season is junior Dariyan Hopper. Against the Blue Devils, Hopper tallied 18 kills for a team-high .484 hitting percentage. The outside hitter’s offensive prowess has been a problem for opponents all season, as she leads the Wolfpack in kills, kills per set and total points.
"[Hopper] did a really great job against us," Nagel said. "We're obviously going to have to do better. Our blocking defense has to be better to be successful against them this time."
In addition to blockers, Duke will counter Hopper with senior libero Ali McCurdy, who holds the ACC's all-time digs record and tacked on 14 more against the Seminoles. Another bright spot was junior setter Maggie Deichmeister, who leads the ACC with 11.39 assists per set.
Sophomore outside hitter Emily Sklar is another weapon on the Duke offense, pacing the team with 3.98 kills per set, good for second in the conference. Sklar’s 10-kill performance against Florida State was her 24th match in double-digits this season.
The Blue Devils will then close out the season against North Carolina Friday, and if they defeat both the Wolfpack and the Tar Heels, they will clinch the ACC title. Two days after facing the Tar Heels, Duke will learn its seeding for the NCAA tournament, which begins Dec. 5. Currently No. 18 in the NCAA RPI, the team is in contention to potentially host two rounds of the tournament.
"These are two very important matches for us, because these two senior captains [McCurdy and Chelsea Cook] have had great success in Cameron," Nagel said. "We just want to help them end on a very strong note and send them off in style, but we don't want them to finish up playing yet."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.