Coming into this weekend, the Duke volleyball team controlled its own destiny. A win over either Clemson or Georgia Tech and Florida State ensured a No. 2 seed for the Blue Devils in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
Instead, Duke (15-15 overall, 9-7 in ACC) suffered one of its toughest weekends of the season, dropping all three straight matches.
"We hurt ourselves more than our opponents hurt us this weekend," coach Linda Grensing said.
On Friday night Clemson (23-6, 10-6 in ACC) overpowered Duke for a four-game victory, 15-7, 10-15, 15-12, 15-5. The Blue Devils had no answer for the Tigers' 6-foot-3 outside hitter Cindy Stern, who recorded 18 kills, many on hits sailing over the Duke blockers.
Duke showed signs of life in the second game, pulling away from Clemson late in the stanza. The Tigers came back to win a tightly contested third game, and finished the match easily in the fourth. Duke, led by Dominique Philipp with 12 kills and eight digs, hit at a .117 mark for the game, while Clemson was more efficient at .196.
Things did not get any better for the Blue Devils Saturday afternoon as Georgia Tech (17-14, 10-6 in ACC) took care of Duke, 15-3, 15-6, 15-4. The Blue Devils could not overcome solid play by the Yellow Jackets and a hostile crowd made up of members of Tech's pep band, who cheered and sang throughout the match.
Duke seemed flat for the game versus Georgia Tech, a team it had beaten twice already this season. The Yellow Jackets never gave Duke a chance to get started, opening up leads in each game of 7-1, 6-0 and 8-1. The Blue Devils drew within 8-6 in the second game, but two questionable calls halted their rally and Tech never looked back. Duke hit a dismal .084 for the match, while Georgia Tech hit .380.
"Friday and Saturday we did not play well," Grensing said. "Clemson and Georgia Tech were clearly the better teams."
Duke came out with a different attitude on Sunday, which was senior day, against FSU (24-7, 11-5 in ACC), but was unable to pull out a win. Duke, who had beaten the Seminoles 14 consecutive times entering the match, won the first game, overcoming an early 8-1 deficit, and appeared to have turned things around.
The Seminoles answered by holding on to early leads of 8-1 and 7-3 in games two and three, respectively. Duke could not manage the comeback in these two games despite tremendous hustle, epitomized by senior Maureen Reindl diving for a ball and banging her head to the floor. Reindl exited the game for a moment but returned later.
One highlight of game three was when senior Kristen Campbell set sophomore Sarah Peifer for the kill and became the first Blue Devil to record 5000 assists.
The Blue Devils faced match point in the fourth game at 14-12, but a service error by FSU gave Duke a chance. Senior Sarah Corder served the next four points and Duke forced a fifth game, thanks to some timely kills by Reindl, who ended the match with an impressive 22 kills and 22 digs.
"I think Maureen Reindl's efforts for the ball were great," Grensing said. "In the game where she got subbed out because she hurt herself, for her to come back in and play as strongly as she did, that was critical."
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, the fifth game went the way their previous game fives have gone this season. FSU, who was led by Susan Hawks with 21 kills and 10 digs, overcame the momentum Duke had going into the fifth game to pull out a 15-10 victory and win the match. Duke is now 0-6 in five game matches this year.
Although the Blue Devils lost, Grensing felt that they showed tremendous heart not giving in at match point in the fourth game.
"Today we played hard, and we played well," Grensing said. "I think Florida State did a better job executing in some critical situations."
With the losses, Duke dropped to the fifth seed in the upcoming ACC tournament.
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