The Blue Devils made the long trek out west looking to spark a deep postseason run, but never got the chance to see their title aspirations take flight.
No. 21 Duke fell in three sets to No. 23 Hawaii in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday night at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle. Entering the contest winners of five of their past six contests, the Blue Devils were never able to establish an offensive rhythm against the Rainbow Wahine, one of the country's best blocking teams.
"It's very disappointing, and I know our seniors are crushed," Duke head coach Jolene Nagel said in the postgame press conference. "Hats off to Hawaii. [It] served tough, didn't allow us to get into our system, played some great defense too. They really controlled the tempo of the match. We didn't really start looking more like ourselves until about the last 10 points of the match."
A sloppy start to the first set foreshadowed the offensive troubles to come for Duke (22-8). After senior Jeme Obeime put the Blue Devils ahead 1-0, Duke committed four consecutive attack errors to hand Hawaii (22-6) a 4-1 edge. Two more Blue Devil gifts helped the Rainbow Wahine extend the lead to 8-3. Duke could never get closer than five the rest of the way as Hawaii took the first set, 25-15.
Overall, Duke committed 23 attack errors Friday, nine of which came in the opening stanza. The normally-potent Blue Devil offense had trouble finding holes in the Hawaii defense, recording just seven kills in the frame. Duke also racked up more errors than kills in the third set, and finished with a season-low .050 hitting percentage, far below its season average of .262.
"After the first set it felt like it was just nerves from the tournament, but we never really established a rhythm," Obeime said. "Hawaii was able to use that to their advantage, they were able to set up a block or double-block on almost every swing. We really rely on our offense, so for that to not be going as well, it made it a little bit worse."
Tactically, Hawaii's middle blockers prevented Duke's interior players—sophomores Jordan Tucker and Alyse Whitaker—from getting comfortable. The duo combined for just seven kills Friday; both Blue Devils averaged more than eight kills per game on the year.
With Tucker and Whitaker struggling inside, Obeime and junior Emily Sklar faced even more pressure than normal to lead the offensive attack. The outside hitters paced the Blue Devils all season, but ran up against heavy resistance from the Rainbow Wahine. Sklar put down a team-high 11 kills and Obeime contributed nine, as the Hawaii defense kept balls alive and extended rallies, biding time until Duke committed an error. The Rainbow Wahine also collected 11.5 blocks.
"They played lights-out defense. If there was anything that surprised us, the ball kept on coming back over the net, and I don't think we're necessarily used to that. We're used to putting down the ball and that's it," senior setter Kelsey Williams said. "I think that put us on our heels a little bit and we struggled to get it going from there."
Hawaii's offense got going in the second set, led by Tai Manu-Olevao and Olivia Magill. The tandem combined for seven of the Rainbow Wahine's 15 kills as Hawaii led wire-to-wire. Each recorded a kill in a late 6-1 run to create separation from the Blue Devils, claiming a commanding 2-0 advantage with a 25-19 victory.
With its back against the wall, Duke held a 2-1 edge early in the third frame—one of its three leads Friday, all by a single point—needing three straight set victories to extend its season. But Hawaii rattled off a 13-1 run, putting the Blue Devils in an insurmountable 14-3 hole. Although Duke tried to claw its way back—scoring four straight points to cut a 10-point deficit to 23-17—Hawaii put down two straight points to slam the door shut on the Blue Devils' season.
The sluggish offensive performance was surprising from an offense that had smashed 49 or more kills in 10 straight matches entering Friday, including a season-high 75 as recently as Nov. 26 against North Carolina. The time change on the West Coast could have played a role—the 5 p.m. start time in Seattle, or 8 p.m. in Durham and just 2 p.m. in Honolulu.
Nagel didn't use the time change as an excuse, but hopes the result will stick in the minds of her players heading into offseason workouts.
"We didn't expect to play that way when we came out here this weekend," Nagel said. "When you want to win a national championship you've got to just roll on through.... I hope it's going to be a motivating factor for our younger players the entire rest of the year so we can come back stronger than ever."
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