Led by their defense, the Blue Devils have rocketed up the ACC standings in the last month—they will now look to continue shutting opposing offenses down to cap off a successful home stand this weekend.
Duke has won nine of its last 10 matches and will close out the first half of its ACC schedule Friday against Clemson at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday against Georgia Tech at 1 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The two matches will close out a stretch with five matches out of the last six at home for the Blue Devils, who are 9-2 in the friendly confines of Cameron this year.
"This has definitely really been wonderful to have a stand at home where we can catch our breath," Duke head coach Jolene Nagel said. "It’s great for our team just because we can get some work done and sleep in their own beds."
The Blue Devils (13-5, 7-1 in the ACC) have righted the ship after an inconsistent start to the season, leading the conference in digs and sitting in second place in opponent hitting percentage to shut down opposing offenses.
Senior Sasha Karelov has led the defensive effort with 5.26 digs per set—tops in the ACC—and Duke has had at least three players reach double digits in digs in three straight matches, with defensive specialists Chloe DiPasquale and Nicole Ellatrache and freshman setter Cindy Marina stepping up in recent weeks.
Duke has also been playing better defense at the net, as sophomore middle blocker Leah Meyer is fourth in the ACC with 1.4 blocks per set.
“We’ve been able to improve our block…. That’s only helped our diggers get more digs, so they go hand in hand,” Nagel said. “It’s really continued to help our defense, so that’s huge and it’s wonderful and we’re going to need it this weekend.”
Duke’s defense will be under the spotlight against the Tigers and Yellow Jackets, who both have an experienced hitter in the top five in the conference in kills.
Clemson senior Leah Perri tallies 3.7 kills per set, and Georgia Tech senior Teegan Van Gurst has posted double-digit kills in her last two matches against the Blue Devils and has 4.1 kills per set this year.
“They’re very talented and smart players and they get the ball a lot, and we’re going have to be able to play defense against that,” Nagel said. “It’s not going to be easy. That’s why they’re so successful, because they’re so smart, so we’ll have our work cut out for us.”
Duke’s strong play in its back row has covered for a revolving door of outside hitters that have played this year. Freshman Jamie Stivers did not play in Saturday’s win against Virginia after starting 15 of the Blue Devils’ first 16 games, and junior Cadie Bates started instead in just her fourth appearance of the season, notching eight kills.
Freshman Samantha Amos has also surged into a major role with five straight starts and at least 12 kills in three consecutive matches, taking playing time away from sophomore Jessi Bartholomew, who has just one start in October after starting 11 of Duke’s first 13 matches.
“We’re very fortunate that we could play anybody on our team, and we think they would do a good job,” Nagel said. “That’s a real tribute to our team and their resilience and the fact that they are a team, that it doesn’t matter necessarily who is out there. They’re going to work together.”
The Tigers (6-14, 1-7) have struggled in the ACC this year and have not beaten the Blue Devils since 2012, but they snapped an eight-game losing streak Sunday with a five-set win against Boston College, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to win the last three sets.
The Yellow Jackets (15-5, 6-2) swept Duke last season and will likely be looking to catch the Blue Devils in the ACC standings with another win Sunday. They have lost just one set in the midst of a five-game winning streak, and they are No. 43 in the RPI with a couple of impressive nonconference wins against Auburn and Georgia under their belt.
A win for Duke—which is No. 67 in the RPI—would help its chances of getting to the NCAA tournament for the first time in two years.
“They do have a little bit higher RPI than we do right now, but that’s certainly not something I’m even going to worry about,” Nagel said. “We’re going to worry about being prepared to play them… and take it one point at a time.”
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