With fall sports thoroughly underway, The Chronicle is polling its readers every week via its Sportswrap newsletter to highlight one Blue Devil athlete’s outstanding performance. This week’s spotlight goes to Duke volleyball’s Rachel Richardson.
With the fall sports season underway, The Chronicle is here with a breakdown of every sport, including key rules, terminology, tournament formats and more. Up next is an explainer on volleyball.
Duke volleyball (4-5) defeated Princeton (2-4) in five sets in its first matchup of three at a weekend tournament hosted by No. 3 Penn State. The Blue Devils finished the weekend 1-2 after beating the Tigers and losing to the Nittany Lions and St. John’s.
Following a tightly contested stumble against LSU 3-1 Thursday, Duke thumped its way to secure two victories against Davidson 3-1 Friday night and FIU 3-0 Saturday afternoon, with the offensive wall of Rachel Richardson, Kerry Keefe and Rylie Kadel — sporting matching pink hair ties — providing massive hits all weekend.
Duke volleyball started off its regular season with a hard-fought 3-2 victory against a punchy Colgate team coming off a NCAA tournament appearance. The vibes were high in Cameron Indoor Stadium after Friday’s victory, but the Blue Devils weren’t able to maintain momentum for the rest of the weekend, losing to No. 13 Kansas and South Carolina in 3-1 losses.
With a roster of 18 and seven newcomers — including four freshmen and three graduate transfers — the focus of the Blue Devils leading up to the season has been team-building and integration. And with a stacked nonconference schedule and a strong ACC lineup, the pressure is on for Duke to perform.
In a heartbreaking end to its regular season, Duke, despite winning the first set and leading late in the second and fourth sets, fell to North Carolina in five sets Friday afternoon in Chapel Hill. With the loss, Duke now sits right on the bubble for selection into the NCAA tournament.
The gritty energy the Blue Devils showed in the third set against Clemson Sunday was a common theme on the weekend, where two close sets helped Duke get another straight-set win just two nights earlier at Virginia.
Duke won its Friday and Sunday games, taking down Wake Forest 3-1 and Virginia Tech 3-0 in a weekend of program milestones.
Duke wasn’t spooked this holiday weekend. In fact, its resilience was on prime display Friday as the Durham team took down its second Tobacco Road opponent in three days, defeating N. C. State in five sets.
Faced with odd defensive communication issues, service errors and overturned calls, Duke certainly faced adversity when it came to getting a win. In the end, It was able to tip the scale fully in its direction as it got its first win, 3-1, against the Tar Heels since November 2017.
Coming off a four-set loss to Georgia Tech, Duke needed a win against Clemson to split its four-game ACC road trip and return to Cameron Indoor Stadium victorious. The team did just that, efficiently handling Clemson in three sets and proving exactly what it is capable of when all the puzzle pieces fit exactly right.
After dropping a Friday clash with Boston College, Duke capped the weekend with a 3-0 sweep against Syracuse Sunday at the Women’s Building in Syracuse, N.Y.
Coming off two losses the week prior, the Blue Devils returned to Cameron Indoor Stadium Friday where they were able to defeat Notre Dame 3-1. Days later, they fell to the sixth-ranked Cardinals in straight sets.
After losing in four sets to Miami Friday night, Duke came into Sunday afternoon’s game against Florida State hoping for a rebound win. However, the road trip to the Sunshine State proved not so sunny for the Blue Devils.
Following a brutal straight-set loss to No. 8 Pittsburgh Friday evening, the question in the air was whether the Blue Devils would be able to bounce back to take down another ACC opponent Sunday.
In a late Saturday night matchup, Duke wasted no time. In a scrappy, high-paced game, the Blue Devils blew past Santa Clara 3-0. This was Duke’s third straight-set win of the week as it defeated N.C. Central Wednesday and Coastal Carolina Friday.
After a quick 3-0 win against Elon Tuesday, Duke traveled to compete in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and extended its win streak to six since a loss to Loyola Chicago August 26.
On Saturday, the Blue Devils came from behind to beat West Virginia in an exhilarating win that went to the fifth set. This nail-biter came after Duke attained its 1000th win in program history Thursday night against Loyola Maryland.
Duke was tested and partially rose to the challenge this weekend as it took on three teams at the Reamer Club Xtra Special Premier and collected its first win against a ranked team since 2019.
