By JONATHAN GANZ
When Duke volleyball head coach Jon Wilson was asked to pick one word to describe his team's play this year, he chose consistent.
"We've had very few letdowns this year," Wilson said. "We've been very consistent this year, particularly in going out and playing hard and playing well every night."
The 20th-ranked Blue Devils come into this weekend's Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, which is held in Cameron Indoor Stadium, as the hottest team in the conference and the top seed. Duke (25-2) stormed to a perfect 14-0 regular season mark in the league this year and has won an astounding 20 consecutive matches. Duke will be looking for its third consecutive conference championship ,and with it, an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
"It's a matter of pride to win it because we've won it the last two years," said junior Adrian Nicol. "We've already beaten all the teams in the tournament twice, so we're expecting ourselves to win the tournament."
Wilson was a bit more conservative in his assessment of this weekend`s matches.
"We're going to have to work and play well to win," Wilson said."We're looking forward to that challenge."
To win the tournament Duke will have to win three matches in three days. Fatigue, though, should not be a factor in the team's play in the tournament.
"We're used to it," Nicol said. "We've played three games in two days twice this year, so we're ready for it."
Duke opens up play today against the No. 8 seed N.C. State. Both times Duke played the Wolfpack this fall, it needed four games to win the match. The winner will play in the semifinals of the tournament on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. against the winner of the Georgia Tech-Maryland match. The tournament finals are Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
Following the ACC tournament, the Blue Devils will likely move on to the NCAA tournament, which this year has expanded from 32 to 48 teams. The tournament's top 16 teams will receive a first-round bye -- something Duke can use this weekend as extra motivation to win the ACC tournament.
"It would be hard for [the NCAA selection committee] not to give us a bye with a tournament win," Wilson said. "Our power ranking is one of the best in our region."
The Blue Devils' play this year has been nothing short of spectacular as they have led in the ACC from start to finish. They are at or near the top of the league in almost every statistical category.
The most amazing of these statistics has been hitting percentage. Duke's current average of .302, a 55-point increase from last year, is according to Wilson a symbol of just how good Duke has been in winning all its ACC games this year.
Wilson also stressed that it has been a team effort this year, and that Duke will try to win the ACC tournament and move on to the NCAAs with the same consistency it has displayed all year.
NOTES: Several Blue Devils have earned All-ACC honors. Wacholder was named ACC Player of the Year. Jen Rohrig joined Wacholder on the All-ACC first team, while Cappy Meyer and Nicol earned second team honors. Wilson was named ACC Coach of the Year.
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