There's an old phrase in sports which says, "The team that plays together wins together." Saturday night, the No. 21 volleyball team exemplified that adage in its three-game sweep of No. 18 Georgia in a second-round NCAA tournament match at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"It was a big team effort," Duke head coach Jon Wilson said. "Everyone was confident in everyone else. When you have confidence in everyone around you so that you can totally focus on your own job, that's when you usually have a great performance."
Wilson was mystified by Duke's 15-11, 15-3, 15-4 thrashing of the Bulldogs. After the match, Wilson was at a loss for words when describing his team's outstanding performance.
"I have to say I'm humbled to be here," Wilson said. "I'm humbled by the way my team played, they were so good."
On paper, this match should have been much closer than its outcome. The Bulldogs were ranked higher than the Blue Devils and had swept Duke 3-0 last season in Athens, Ga. Judging by the competitiveness of the first game, the match had the potential to be a five-setter.
The Blue Devils began that first game by storming out to an early 8-2 lead.
"I think a lot of us weren't expecting Duke to perform as it did, and it kind of took us aback," Georgia outside hitter Lenore Davis said. "I was blown away by the way Duke was playing."
In many ways, the Blue Devils were also blown away by the way they were playing. Duke was surprised at its lightning start, causing it to play back on its heels. This allowed the Bulldogs to shave the six-point lead down to one at 12-11.
"I think subconsciously we were kind of second-guessing, `Are we supposed to beat them this easy?'" Wilson said.
After the Bulldog comeback, Duke collected itself and finished off the Bulldogs by scoring the last three points. It was a sign of things to come, as Georgia was never able to get back into the match, conceding the final two games without much of a struggle.
To pinpoint the cause of Georgia's demise, all one needs to do is focus on the uncharacteristic play of its two best outside hitters, Priscilla Pacheco and Nikki Nicholson.
"We lived by our outside hitters, and neither one of them performed particularly well tonight," Georgia head coach Jim Iams said. "I think we were really not prepared for that and obviously didn't put up much of a fight in any of the games."
The biggest reason for the poor performances of Georgia's outside hitters was Duke's stellar defense. Time and time again, an attempted Bulldog kill would run into the awaiting hands of a Blue Devil block.
"Their hitters have so many kills and take so many swings that they're very predictable," Wilson said. "If you're going to play that predictably, we're going to be pretty hard to beat because our defense is so good."
No player better exemplified that fact than outside hitter Kristin McMahon. She was one of the cornerstones of Duke's defense, providing 14 digs and five blocks. In addition, McMahon, normally not one of Duke's big guns, finished the match with nine kills and zero errors for an astronomical hitting percentage of .563.
"I've never been on the floor and had so much confidence in the people that were around me," said senior Ashley Wacholder, who finished the match with a team-leading 14 kills. "It felt more like a team spirit."
The crowd of 801 was another major factor.
"Being a senior, I've seen volleyball get progressively more and more attention," Wacholder said. "It was nice to look around and see all of those people supporting Duke. And to have a band there -- those were conditions we're not used to playing in."
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