In the world of sports, no matter how heart-breaking one night's loss is, teams almost always get the chance to come back and try again.
That was the case for the Duke volleyball team this weekend, which refused to fold after an emotional, five-set defeat to arch-rival North Carolina Friday night, as it returned Saturday with a convincing 3-1 victory over North Carolina State. These matches kicked off Duke's Atlantic Coast Conference season after a difficult non-conference schedule which featured matches against some of the nation's elite programs.
Against UNC, the Blue Devils (3-5, 1-1 ACC) won the fourth game 15-10 to send the match to a fifth, decisive game. Duke took a 13-11 lead, but the Tar Heels rallied to go ahead 18-17. The Blue Devils staved off three match points before Carolina put the game away.
Duke had started off the match by winning the first game, 15-13, coming back from a 7-2 deficit. The Tar Heels captured the next two, though, 15-10 and 15-12, pushing the Blue Devils against the wall. Freshman outside hitter Sarah Peifer led Duke with 24 kills, while junior Maureen Reindl, who had to leave the match with the flu, had 30 digs.
Friday's match might have been emotionally draining, but the Blue Devils had less than 24 hours to re-group for their second intra-state showdown of the weekend versus N.C. State.
"I think obviously when you lose a match, especially 19-17, there's a lot of emotion in that," head coach Linda Grensing said. "And when it's UNC, there's a lot more tie-in from that match in terms of the rivalry."
But instead of giving in, Grensing said the defeat just made the players hungrier. Grensing said she told her team before the N.C. State contest that the loss to UNC was the sort of match that's "almost harder to lose" than a blow-out loss.
UNC, however, isn't the most critical match of the season, according to Grensing. She stressed that while winning is important, it couldn't be allowed to make or break the team's season.
Reindl, who led the team in kills going into the weekend, sat out the beginning of the N.C. State match, as Duke started out slowly in the first game. After trailing 11-8, the Blue Devils scored seven unanswered points to take the game; the final point coming from a Megan Irvine ace.
After the Wolfpack won the second game, 15-11, Grensing decided to put Reindl back onto the floor. The move seemed to energize the Blue Devils, who jumped out to a 10-1 in the third game, en route to an easy 15-4 victory.
Duke dominated the next game as well, with Reindl appropriately serving for the match in the 15-7 win.
"We were trying to hold [Reindl] out of the match," Grensing said. "I think Mo kind of provides a little bit of mental stability on the court... I think sometimes there's a confidence in a group, the chemistry of a group that has spent so much time together. I think Mo in a lot of ways is a very quiet but intense motivator for our team and I think her presence is important."
Peifer topped the Devils with 22 kills and 24 digs against the Wolfpack. Irvine added 19 kills and freshman Jami Ediger 15. Grensing credited Irvine and Peifer for leading the way over the weekend, but also cited Liz Neuhas, Laura Krech, Jordan Schultz and Sarah Corder for stepping up-especially in Reindl's absence.
"There's a good thing about our team," Grensing said. "That we have a little depth, that we have people that can fill in."
As Duke prepares for Wednesday's match with non-conference foe UNC-Greensboro (7:30 p.m., Cameron Indoor Stadium), Grensing stressed that her team needs to worry about taking care of its own business.
"I think the difference between [UNC] and [N.C. State] is in situations where we needed to keep the ball in play, where we had momentum and the other team was making some errors," Grensing said. "In those long rallies, we won all those tonight, whereas last night we got a little impatient and erred. Therefore, they created some momentum for [the Tar Heels]. I think we hurt ourselves last night more than UNC hurt us in some critical situations."
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