People often consider the game of volleyball to be a long series of serves, set and spikes.
But to characterize the Duke volleyball team's play as such would simply be offensive.
In the Blue Devils 15-11, 15-3, 15-4 dismantling of Georgia on Saturday night, it was the defense which was the cornerstone that led Duke to the crushing victory and a second straight trip to the NCAA Sweet 16. Duke outblocked, outdug and thoroughly outplayed the 18th-ranked Bulldogs.
"I think they were definitely stunned when we took away their two outside [hitters]," Ashley Wacholder said. "They really didn't know what to do and they broke."
Previews of the game pointed to an all-out slugfest. Georgia came in sporting one of the best outside hitting tandems in the nation. With senior first-team All-American Priscilla Pacheco on one side and second team All-American Nikki Nicholson on the other, Duke faced the daunting task of keeping two high-caliber players in check.
Pacheco was often overpowering in registering a game-high 15 kills, but it was a smothering Blue Devil front line that also forced her into 12 hitting errors for a .061 hitting percentage.
Nicholson fared even worse, with another 12 errors to only six kills for a -.167 average. In the second game, Georgia as a team had more errors -- nine -- than kills -- eight. For a team that relied heavily on its ability to hit well, its match hitting percentage of .050 was far too much to overcome.
"You live by the sword, and in our case, you die by it," Georgia head coach Jim Iams said. "We live by our outside hitters and neither one of them performed particularly well tonight."
Much of Duke's success can be attributed to the fact that it jumped out so quickly on Georgia's attack. The Blue Devils took an 8-3 lead in the first game, putting Georgia in a big hole.
"Duke blocked very well," Georgia senior Lenore Davis said. "But I think our hitters are prepared to hit around the blocker, hit through the blocker if that's what they need to do."
This wasn't the case against Duke, as Georgia adjusted to the Duke blocking scheme but only ended up hitting the ball long. In the end, the Bulldogs had amassed 29 hitting errors to Duke's eight. This proved more valuable than any offense the Blue Devils had.
If Georgia was able to get the ball through the Duke block, it was handled just as well from the back line. Maureen Reindel tallied 15 digs, and Duke was able to keep the ball in play with 71 total digs.
"Their hitters have so many kills and take so many swings that they're very predictable," Duke head coach Jon Wilson said. "They have to be pretty much flawless."
Georgia's hitters were far from perfect, and Duke let them know it. With emotions running high and Duke's confidence soaring, one block by Briar Blach was followed by some finger pointing and trash talking between the teams. This led to the referee warning a Georgia player. On Duke's side, Wilson described the event as "celebrating a great block." On Georgia's side, there was clearly plenty of built-up frustration.
The Blue Devils will need to have that type of attitude when they travel to Gainesville, Fla., to take on top-seeded and third-ranked UCLA in the South Regional semifinals later this week.
"We played with so much confidence in each other as a team [against Georgia]," Kristin McMahon said. "We always felt like if we didn't get it, someone else was going to get if for us."
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