The volleyball team played three matches in little over 24 hours this weekend, but the team didn't get too much of a workout, as it swept three guests in straight games in the Duke Classic.
The third match pitted the Blue Devils (6-2) against the Georgia Bulldogs (3-3). Both Duke and Georgia came into the match with perfect records in the tournament, each having beaten Cleveland State and Towson State already.
The first game of the Blue Devil-Bulldog face-off was a game of runs. After a 3-3 start, Duke went on a six-point run to go up 9-3, but Georgia responded with a seven-point run of its own to take the lead by one.
It was the last time Duke would trail all evening.
The Bulldogs returned a Pam Gottfred hit out of bounds, and the Blue Devils went on to close out the first game, 15-13.
"I think we stepped up our passing," tournament MVP Jill Sonne said. "We just cut down on our own errors and executed each play. We just took them out of their game. We served tough."
The promise of a close match proved to be a tease, as Duke took the second set 15-3.
Duke continued its stellar play in the third game, as it rushed out to a 13-4 lead and closed the match off with a 15-8 win.
Duke coach Jolene Nagel said the Blue Devils' ability to avoid errors was the key to the game. The Blue Devils committed 11 errors to the Bulldogs' 23.
"This match we did a good job of making them make errors," she said. "We forced them into making a lot of errors. We did a good job of minimizing our errors."
The Georgia match, particularly the final two sets, underlined the Blue Devils' strengths as a team. However, the team was also able to avoid a problem that has plagued them this year-starting matches slowly.
Against Cleveland State (3-3), the Blue Devils allowed the Vikings to score the first four points of the contest. However, Duke responded well, winning the matchup 15-4, 15-12, 15-4.
Nagel was somewhat upset by her team's performance in the second game, where it struggled to put away a feisty Cleveland State team.
"We weren't using our heads as much as we should have at that point," she said. "We weren't covering our hitters. We just had a lapse right there, a mental lapse. Cleveland St. had us going there"
The Blue Devils' first game of the weekend tournament took place on Friday night and proved little more than a dress rehearsal for the rest of the weekend. Duke beat Towson St. (2-4) by a score of 15-4, 15-10, 15-9.
The team's depth was highlighted in the weekend tournament. In each of the three matches, a different Blue Devil stepped up and posted huge statistics.
On Friday, it was junior outside hitter Ashley Harris, who recorded a staggering 21 kills. Against Cleveland St., junior Dorrette Burwell posted 11 kills and five service aces-in only two games of play. On Saturday night, sophomore Jill Sonne posted her second double-double of the tournament with 12 kills and 16 digs. Freshman middle blocker Krista Dill joined Harris and Sonne on the all-tournament team.
"This team is very deep," Sonne said. "Everybody is very important, but there's no one we can't do without. Everybody stepped up at different times."
Duke plays its next match against Campbell tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. in the East Campus Gym.
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