The volleyball team lost big twice Saturday in Cameron Indoor Stadium falling to No. 18 UC-Santa Barbara 3-0 (30-16, 30-24, 30-22) and No. 12 Wisconsin 3-0 (30-19, 30-15, 30-15) in the Duke Classic. The Blue Devils narrowly lost to American the previous day.
Duke's record now stands at 8-3 after beginning the season a perfect 8-0.
The Blue Devils kept each game close before letting the Badgers go on big runs to turn close scores into gaping margins of victory. Wisconsin broke all three games open with runs of 17-9 in the first game, 22-7 in the second game, and 21-5 in the last. However, neither the Duke players nor their head coach Jolene Nagel were ready to concede inferiority.
"We have the skill and manpower to play with these teams, but we didn't play like we could have," said senior middle blocker Rachel Vander Griend, who had four kills against the Gauchos and four kills and .250 hitting percentage against the Badgers.
Nagel agreed with Vander Griend.
"We didn't come to play our best volleyball this weekend," she said. "We didn't execute as well as we should have. We didn't do the little things well."
The Blue Devils only had one player in double digits in kills--Katie Gilman who tallied 10 kills and a .364 hitting average.
Wisconsin was able to break away because Duke was having defensive lapses and was making unforced errors.
"We made stupid mistakes, and that's what's so frustrating," Vander Griend said. "We weren't making those mistakes when we were winning."
The Badgers were led by Lisa Zukowski, Lori Rittenhouse and Amy Hultgren. All three had more than 10 kills, and Rittenhouse had an attack percentage of .579.
Nagel said she thought her team did not come out with a high enough level of intensity against Wisconsin. She also pointed to the close loss Friday night against American, saying that it may have hurt the team's morale.
"We need to be more consistent," said junior middle blocker Krista Dill.
In the morning game against the Gauchos, the Blue Devils also struggled in the 3-0 loss. Duke had two players with more than nine kills, highlighted by Dill's 12. Dill also paced the team in hitting average with a mark of .267.
Nagel commended Dill for her play Saturday, saying she had the most consistent performance of all her players.
Santa Barbara managed to have three players with more than 13 kills, including Francina Edmonds' 17. Edmonds and Courtney Guerra had hitting percentages of .448 as well.
The Blue Devils next face North Carolina A&T Tuesday at home in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Before then, the team hopes to rediscover its formula for winning.
"We are just going to work our butts off in practice and hope we find our confidence again," Vander Griend said.
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