The volleyball team was both the victor and the vanquished this weekend.
Friday night the Blue Devils trounced Wake Forest in three straight games. Saturday night, however, the tables turned as they suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Houston.
Duke gained its first two victories against Wake swiftly and mercilessly Friday, allowing the Demon Deacons only five points in the first game of the match and seven in the second. In the third game the Blue Devils substituted heavily, allowing Wake to come back and keep the game close, scoring 12 points. In the end, though, Duke held on for the victory, scoring its match point with an ace by freshman Dominique Philipp.
"We had a pretty easy time against Wake," junior Maureen Reindl said. "We were all on the same page. We were all working hard."
Reindl led the way for the Blue Devils with 16 kills and 14 digs. Junior setter Kristen Campbell, sophomore Megan Irvine, and freshman Jami Ediger also played well on Friday.
Saturday night Duke was unable to maintain its momentum against Houston. In the first game the Cougars took advantage of Duke's inefficient passing to amass a 14-2 lead. With the pressure on, the Blue Devils rallied to hold off the game point, forcing Houston to play at their tempo. Freshman phenom Sarah Peifer garnered nine of her ten kills of the match in this game, but Houston still came away with a 15-7 victory.
In the second game Duke seemed to lose even more of its focus as the Cougars collected another victory. Houston constantly blocked Peifer in a successful effort to stymie her hitting power. Consequently, the weakened Duke attack only scored one point in the beginning of the game. Despite a tenacious attempt to fight off another game point for the Cougars, Houston won game two in a 15-1 rout.
"It took us until we were down 10-1 to realize we had to start playing hard," Reindl said. "I'm not proud of that, but we did work hard to keep off game point. Unfortunately, we waited way too long to play hard."
The third game brought about a swing in momentum as the Blue Devils fought to hold on in the match. Duke seemed to regain its focus, maintaining control of the ball and concentrating on one play at a time. Throughout the entire game the Blue Devils stayed within three points of the Cougars and even occasionally pulled ahead. Houston repelled Duke's valiant effort, however, sealing up the match with a 15-12 victory.
"[Saturday] we weren't prepared in any way, shape or form for the match," Duke coach Linda Grensing said. "When we did step in and play like the team that we are in the third game, we matched them. We did a lot of good things in terms of siding out and scoring points but you can't start in game three against a good team."
In spite of the loss, Saturday's match did have some bright spots for Duke. Reindl collected 11 kills, and Peifer and Ediger both also had an outstanding match. The Blue Devils hope to build on the lessons of Saturday's defeat to improve their focus and prepare for future matches.
"Certainly this isn't the bottom line of our season," Grensing said. "With us being a young team, matches like this are great learning experiences. We've got a lot to learn. Clearly there are a lot of lessons to take out of this."
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