After three straight weekends of traveling outside the Eastern time zone, the volleyball team will finally stay close to home this weekend as it plays in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge in Chapel Hill. The Blue Devils (4-6) take on Michigan at 7 p.m. on Friday and then meet Purdue Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m.
This weekend's tournament comes on the heels of consecutive trips to East Lansing, Mich., Los Angeles and Chicago with a home match against defending NCAA champs Stanford sandwiched in the middle. During these past three weeks, Duke has faced six ranked teams and lost to all six, getting swept 3-0 in five of those matches.
"I think we just need to play our game this weekend," Duke coach Linda Grensing said. "This is also a good time for us to show what we've gained in terms of court experience in the last couple of weeks. I think we've got a great group of kids and I think that they need to do no more than take each ball and play it competitively like they have and just show people what a great team they are."
The challenge is certainly not over for the Blue Devils this weekend, but the task does not measure up to the first stage of Duke's season. The Wolverines (5-4) and the Boilermakers (6-3) both finished in the bottom half of the Big Ten last season and should be mired there again this year, with national powers Penn State, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan State on top of the conference. Both opponents are formidable and hungry, however, as they play in their final contests before conference play begins.
"There's no question we have been tested so far, both by playing a wide range of teams and taking some pretty long road trips," Purdue coach Joey Vrazel said. "But we set up the schedule that way on purpose to get us ready for the Big Ten season. Conference play can be grueling, and this schedule should have us prepared."
The Wolverines are led by senior setter Linnea Mendoza, last year's team MVP and Michigan's career leader in assists. Last year, she recorded an astounding 95 assists in one match against Illinois. She is joined by fellow senior Sarah Jackson, a 6-foot middle blocker who leads the Wolverines in hitting percentage at .288 on the year.
"Michigan is a little bit more court experienced," Grensing said. "They can be a pretty damaging team because they definitely have some of the tools that can be pretty effective in beating a lot of teams."
Purdue boasts an attack that finished 12th in the country last year, and returns the majority of its young core.
"Purdue is younger and very athletic," Grensing said. "They're a very offensive team and they should be a great team in a year or two."
The Boilermaker's feature a pair of talented sophomore outside hitters in Kelly Colangelo and Sarah Inke, both of whom are averaging 3.9 kills per game through Purdue's first nine games. The Boilermakers have struggled at the net defensively, though, notching an above-average 2.09 blocks per game, but still come through repeatedly on crucial points.
Still, with the opposition across the net finally toned down to more reasonable levels, the battle-tested Blue Devils will be out to prove to themselves and others that the last three weekends' lessons have paid off.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.