Critics that said that the volleyball team's season is over may have spoken too soon.
After dropping their weekend opener at Maryland 1-3, the Blue Devils (8-11, 4-3 in the ACC) came back with two convincing wins against Atlantic Coast Conference rivals Virginia, 3-0, and Wake Forest 3-0.
Hoping to build upon their fine play against Virginia on Sunday, Duke got an unexpected surprise from an upstart Wake Forest team (8-13, 1-6 in the ACC) that matched them point for point for a while Tuesday before falling 12-15, 2-15, 4-15.
After a tough first game, the Blue Devils looked sluggish coming out of the gates in the second, dropping the first two points. After that, Duke took over by winning the next 15 points. The Demon Deacons tried to stop the bleeding with two timeouts at 6-2 and 11-2, but to no avail.
"I just think we came out and we were pretty relaxed in how we approached the first game," said Coach Linda Grensing, "Wake Forest is a decent team, and they had a lot of pride. Wake Forest played well in game one, and then we kicked it in and played the way we're capable of playing in game two.
"I think after we played better, that made them worse. I think there was a point where we separated ourselves from Wake Forest. We showed what we can do, and what they can do. Second of all, they started to lose confidence, and then we took over. "
That point was three points into the second game. Duke won the next twenty-five points before Wake Forest broke the run at 10-0 in the third game.
Led by Megan Irvine's 13 kills and .579 hitting percentage, the team combined to hit a season-high .419. Sophomore Sarah Peifer also showed that she was back to her old form, recording 12 kills and 10 digs. Katie Horne lead Wake Forest with 12 kills, followed by Sharon Harmsworth with 11.
"I think Megan Irvine did a great job of stepping up, and I think all our kids did things well. From game one on, they did a great job of stepping up and playing the way they were capable of playing, " said Grensing.
Kristen Campbell lead Duke with 33 assists, and Jami Ediger and Jenny Stadler contributed seven and six kills, respectively. Veteran Maureen Reindl had five kills and five digs in a game and a half of play.
Coming off a knee injury, Reindl showed some flashes of her pre-injury brilliance after Coach Linda Grensing put her in halfway through the second game.
"I think she did a great job of coming in and attacking Wake Forest at a key part of the game," said Grensing.
The Blue Devils started out poorly against undefeated Maryland in College Park Saturday evening, losing the first game 6-15 and the match 6-15, 15-17, 15-6, 10-15. Duke bounced back against Virginia Sunday afternoon, winning handily 15-8, 15-13, 15-3.
"Maryland is a good team, and right now they are unbeaten in the ACC," said Grensing, "We played them really hard. At Virginia, we did a good job of going in and taking care of business there, which typically in the past two years have gone tough with Virginia at their place.
"I felt really good about what our kids did, especially in game three at Virginia, which was really important heading into tonight to take care of things and make the adjustment in game one and come back in games two and to finish like they did, that's important. After this coming weekend, there should be a lot of teams that flip-flop in the ACC rankings; there will most likely be a four or five way tie for second place."
The Blue Devils hope to be one of those teams tied for second place, as they try to make it three-in-a-row against Florida State Friday night in Tallahassee.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.