When inviting someone to visit your home for the weekend, it is proper etiquette to treat that person with the utmost respect and kindness, offering him or her anything at all to make the stay enjoyable. "Mi casa es su casa."
The volleyball team's response to this section of the etiquette handbook: "Not this weekend."
The Blue Devils (2-1) host the Duke Classic this weekend, as Mercer (0-4), Connecticut (3-1) and Indiana (4-0) make the trip to Durham. While the Bears have visited Cameron Indoor Stadium in the past, it will be the first trip for the Huskies and the Hoosiers.
"We have been looking forward to this [first home game] for a long time," Dorette Burwell said. "I haven't sensed any nervousness from our team at all. It's more that we are ready to go out and get them, our seniors especially are really excited to start things in our gym."
The action begins with a 4 p.m. start for UConn and Indiana on Friday, followed by the Duke-Mercer contest at 6:30. The classic concludes with the championship match Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
Much like the Nevada Invitational of last weekend, this tournament field features some solid teams.
The Blue Devils opening opponent, Mercer, could be the weak link of the group, however. The Bears, coming off a 3-27 campaign last season, have started this year dropping all four of their matches.
The Huskies are certainly no stranger to Nagel, as they played rival to her Hoyas for the last eight seasons in the Big East. They have begun this season solidly at 3-1 and hope to get another shot at Nagel this weekend.
Indiana, ranked No. 31 in the nation, could be the strongest team of the four. The Hoosiers enter this tournament on quite a roll. Last weekend, they swept the Florida State Classic, which included a 3-0 sweep of another ACC school, FSU.
The Blue Devils, however, enter the Classic with some momentum of their own. They had a productive opening weekend under their new coach, taking two of three matches out west.
Nagel said that the tournament last weekend gave her an excellent opportunity to see where her team stood and what it needed to work on. This tournament should provide another chance to continue that trend of analyze and improve.
"We have mainly been working on our passing when receiving a serve," Burwell said. "If we can get a good pass, we will almost always get a good hit. And we have also worked on serving the other team really tough."
Duke hopes to continue to receive high quality play from outside hitters Dominique Philipp and Ashley Harris. Both of these players notched 18-kill games last weekend and plan on keeping the hot hand going at home.
Pamela Gottfred will likely receive the nod at setter once again, and the Blue Devils expect Josie Weymann to give them some quality points in the back row.
"We're pretty much focusing on our game," Burwell said. "And As long as we can play our game, then we will be fine with the other teams we go up against this weekend [in the tournament]."
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