Coming into their matchup with Clemson as winners of nine of their last 10 games, the Blue Devils have been playing like a young team full of confidence.
Duke showed little signs of slowing down in a sweep of the Tigers.
The Blue Devils pushed past Clemson in a 25-10, 25-21, 25-19 victory to notch their sixth straight win Friday evening at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Although the match featured two teams at the opposite ends of the ACC standings, Duke was challenged by the Tigers in the final two sets, but pounced on mishaps by Clemson to come away with a win.
“This team is playing as a team, and they are working together as a team, communicating on the court, off the court, as to what they can accomplish,” Duke head coach Jolene Nagel said.
Senior Sasha Karelov led the Blue Devils with 18 digs, and senior middle blocker Jordan Tucker and sophomore Jessica Bartholomew combined for 23 kills. Freshman setter Cindy Marina also continued her impressive rookie campaign, recording her 12th double-double with 41 assists and 16 digs.
After a dominant performance in the first set, the Blue Devils (14-5, 8-1 in the ACC) were inconsistent in the second and third sets and gave Clemson an opportunity to capitalize. But Duke raised its play on the biggest points of the game to stave off the Tigers and keep pace near the top of the ACC.
“We were putting some extra pressure on ourselves that didn’t need to be there,” Tucker said. “We came out had a good first set and we couldn’t get that rhythm going in that second and third [set].”
The Blue Devils jumped on the Tigers (6-15, 1-8) right out of the gates, scoring the first six points of the match on three Clemson errors. The rout continued with the Tigers frontline struggling mightily and finishing with more attack errors than kills for a hitting percentage of -.026 in the first set. Duke appeared to have all the momentum as it won the final five points and clinched the frame on Tucker's fifth kill of the set.
But things got much tougher for the Blue Devils as the match progressed.
Duke looked out of sorts to start the second frame and the Tigers were poised to tie the contest at a set apiece. With her team trailing 15-9 and continuing to struggle with errors, Nagel looked to spark the unit with a timeout—one that ended up becoming the turning point of the frame.
The Blue Devils looked like a completely new group after the stoppage of play and went on a 9-3 run to tie the match at 18. Down the stretch, Duke raised its level of play once again and created separation by winning five straight points to go up 24-20. After kill by Tori Woogk saved one match point for the Tigers, sophomore Leah Meyer stepped up for the Blue Devils and delivered a set-ending kill to put Duke up 2-0.
“That was probably a little bit late [to call the timeout],” Nagel said. “I really did think they were going to bring it around. I was surprised that we didn’t do it faster than that.”
Clemson continued to battle in the third set and the Blue Devils once again found themselves in a tight contest with the score tied at 10 midway through the frame. After the teams traded points until the score was 16 apiece, Duke put its foot on the pedal and pulled away.
Fueled by a pair of aces by freshman Cindy Marina and kills by hitters Samantha Amos and Jamie Stivers, the Blue Devils went up 23-18 and closed the set three points later on an error by Clemson's Kailey Harvell after a key dig by Karelov.
Although the final result was another sweep for Duke, the Blue Devils learned the importance of sustaining their level of play for an entire match. As the young team continues to work its way through the ACC schedule, upperclassmen such as Tucker have taken the reigns and helped the team respond when challenged.
“There’s times to shut up and just play and there’s times to say something and try to help somebody else out,” Tucker said. “It’s kind of a combination. There’s always that balance about being a leader.”
With almost half of conference play behind them, Duke will face a tougher road going forward, starting Sunday when the Blue Devils host a talented Georgia Tech team that is 7-2 in the ACC.
But after pushing through early-season struggles and continuing to gel as a unit, Duke has grown as a team and appears ready to show that they can compete with some of the nation's best.
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