CHAPEL HILL—In one of the most exhilarating matches of the season, Duke fought tooth-and-nail, but could not find the magic in the end to pull off its second top-10 upset in two weeks.
No. 6 North Carolina survived a challenge from the scrappy No. 21 Blue Devils at Carmichael Arena Wednesday, prevailing 3-2 in a thrilling five-set match. Senior Jeme Obeime and junior Emily Sklar combined for 50 kills, but the duo's impressive effort was not enough to topple the Tar Heels.
Wednesday's loss knocked the Blue Devils out of contention for the ACC title, derailing Duke's dreams of winning a second straight conference crown.
"I saw a great performance out there today," Blue Devil head coach Jolene Nagel said. "I'm obviously very disappointed in the outcome because I believe that we could've had it. We needed to do it, but at the same time, this team is learning. So I think that [the players] also see that they could have had it today."
After a close start, the first set was all North Carolina (25-2, 16-1 in the ACC). With the lead at 19-16, the Tar Heels pulled away from Duke (21-7, 13-4) to take the set 25-19. This gave many in the packed gymnasium the thought that another North Carolina sweep of the Blue Devils was coming. The Tar Heels swept Duke in their Oct. 19 matchup at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
But Duke came in determined not be swept twice by its arch-rival, and guaranteed at least a fourth set with a strong showing in the second stanza.
After letting North Carolina control the net in the opening frame, Duke’s defense stood tall in the second period. Duke jumped out to a 10-2 lead, sucking the air out of the arena with each strike. Obeime led the Blue Devil charge in the second set, registering seven kills in the frame.
But North Carolina would not keep the Carmichael crowd quiet for long, rushing back to close the gap from 17-10 to 19-all. Just when the Tar Heels seemed poised to steal back the lead and the momentum, Obeime stepped up once again, scoring the Blue Devils’ next two points to put them up 21-19.
The teams went back-and-forth, knotting the score at 24-24 before Sklar’s attempt careened off Nicole Elattrache's arm and toward the stands to give her squad its first set win.
"[We] were being a little complacent and we talked about that in the huddle and I think from that moment on, they went back at it again," Nagel said. "We had a little lapse there. We've got to work on that so we don't have that happen to us so we don't get down as much as we did.... The neat thing is we were able to recover from it."
Duke came out of the locker room and started the third period just as fast as it did the second frame, jumping out to a 4-0 lead. But as the Blue Devils seemed ready to put the set away, North Carolina stormed back from a 16-12 deficit and took its first lead since the opening period when Lauren McAdoo's strike put the Tar Heels up 18-17. They would go on to distance themselves from the Blue Devils and take the set 25-19.
Despite falling behind 8-3 early in the fourth frame, the resilient Blue Devils were not ready to say die just yet. Sparked by Obeime, Duke scored seven of the next nine points to tie the game 11-11. North Carolina would try and pull away, but the Blue Devils continued to fight back, tying the set 12 times after trailing throughout the set.
With the teams ted at 18, McAdoo registered back-to-back kills to push the lead back to two and give North Carolina a shot to clinch the win. But an attack error would close the gap to one and three plays later, with the score tied at 21, Obeime would give the Blue Devils their first lead of the period when she sent a kill screaming across past the outstretched arms of several Tar Heels.
The fans on hand would be granted some extra volleyball, as both teams hit 25 but refused to give up the match point. After going point-for-point five serves in a row and with the score tied at 30, Sklar stepped up and sent two consecutive kills to the ground to claim the set victory for Duke and quiet a boisterous Carmichael crowd.
"When you're in the moment, you don't have time to think about [the score]," Nagel said. "Obviously, we still feel some stress but not to the extent that other people do watching.... They do very well in great crowds and these environments."
The fifth set seemed to just be an extension of the fourth, as both teams scrapped for every point. North Carolina was able to take an 9-5 lead thanks to consecutive out-of-bound strikes by the Blue Devils and a big Leigh Andrew block.
Down 10-6, Duke needed a big swing to get it back in the game, and just as they had all day, the Blue Devils rallied, scoring four straight to tie the match at 10-apiece.
But North Carolina would answer with a rally of its own, scoring the next four of six points to take a 14-12 lead. After a bad set from Tar Heel Ece Tanner, Duke trailed by one with the match point on the line. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, North Carolina's Chaniel Nelson rose to the occasion and finished the match with a kill, giving the Tar Heels the win and at least a piece of the conference championship.
Not to be lost in the disappointment of the loss were the career performances put forth by Obeime and Sklar. Both set career highs in kills—Obeime with 24 and Skalr with 26—and Sklar also posted a career-high 22 digs and took 77 swings by the time the game finally ended.
"That's really exciting that they took as many swings as they did," Nagel said. "We needed them. They've been an important part of our team all year and an important part of our offense. The last time that we played Carolina, we didn't have a lot of production out of that position, so that was really exciting today—to see them take that on their shoulders."
The Blue Devils will look to close out their regular season on a high note when they turn around and face N.C. State Saturday at 2 p.m. in another hostile environment on the road.
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