The volleyball team faced a formidable task this past weekend, taking on the top two teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference on the road. The Blue Devils were swatted away by No. 20 Georgia Tech, losing 3-0 on Friday. Saturday wasn't much better, as Duke fell in a heartbreaking five-game match to Clemson.
Against the Yellow Jackets, Duke never had a chance. Georgia Tech came out from the outset and dominated the Blue Devils.
"Georgia Tech started out with a great game," head coach Linda Grensing said. "They blew us away with momentum.
"In the third game, we started to change the momentum, but that's too late against a great team."
While Georgia Tech had everything together, the Blue Devils failed to get their offense in synch. Senior Virginia Hall said Duke didn't handle the ball very well, which led to the team's lack of offense.
After their blowout loss to Tech, the Blue Devils were motivated to knock off the Tigers. Duke wanted a win to lower Clemson's seeding in next week's ACC tournament.
The Tigers were on a downer, having lost to N.C. State the night before.
Clemson captured the first game, but Duke fought back and claimed the next two.
Grensing said Duke did a great job regaining the momentum the Tigers had claimed after game one.
"We played error-free during that time," she said. "We did a great job sticking to our game plan."
Also to that point, Duke had held Clemson's top player, Julie Rodriguez, in check.
Then came game four, when Duke fell apart and handed the game to the Tigers 15-3. Duke couldn't rebound and lost the final game 15-11.
Freshman Megan Irvine said the team played with Clemson at every point, but it was Duke's mental toughness that faltered.
"We were making a lot of mental errors," she said. "It all came down to mental toughness--we lacked it."
Added Hall on the Clemson loss: "I think we could have beaten Clemson skillwise. At times we looked really great. At times, we were really bad."
That describes the way the Blue Devils have played the entire year. Sometimes they look like the top-20 team that they were last year. Other times they have looked like the young team that they really are.
Their only chance for a spot in the NCAA tourney is to win the ACC tournament.
And to accomplish that, they will have to do what they haven't been able to do all year--play consistently.
"We can match these teams in the ACC skillwise," Irvine said. "We just have to get the mental glitch out of our system."
The Blue Devils hope that happens soon. They start the ACC tournament on Friday against Maryland.
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