The women's volleyball team preyed on the intimidated Panthers of High Point University during a 3-0 (30-10, 30-18, 30-22) win Tuesday in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Aside from a brief lapse in the third game, the Blue Devils dominated nearly every facet of the match, combining a blend of power and finesse.
"I was pleased we came out to play tonight," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "Sometimes we play down to the level of the opponent, and I don't feel like we did that at all tonight."
After crushing the Panthers in the first game and taking the second easily, Duke found itself with a slim lead, 14-12, in Game 3. Starting with an ace from junior Tassy Rufai, however, the Blue Devils went on a 6-1 run, and never looked back.
"I think we just had a little mental lapse," Rufai said. "We got back on track to focus well and execute well."
Since she was playing mostly reserves at the time the Panthers nearly caught up, Nagel decided to view the third game as a learning experience.
"We just had a lot of inexperience on the floor," Nagel said. "They haven't had me bark at them enough at where they're supposed to be on defense. It will come with time."
In short, the coach was more impressed with Game 1 than she was worried about Game 3.
Sophomore Stephanie Istavan lead Duke with a remarkable 23 assists while junior Arielle Linderman added 15 assists. No other Dukie tallied more than one.
On the other side of the ball, Istavan led Duke with 10 digs, while Gilman had six and Linderman had four. Senior Rachel Vander Griend added four blocks to go with a perfect hitting percentage.
Linderman and Rufai had the only solo blocks for the Blue Devils, but Dill assisted on five occasions.
"I think our team did a real good job of executing in Game 1, which made our job a lot easier," the fourth-year Blue Devil coach said. "I really appreciate that because it allowed us to really give some other people opportunities out there in a game setting."
Leading High Point was Kimberly Wright with 11 kills with Tracyan Pryce added seven. Jamie Kutz and Wright had 15 and eight assists, respectively.
All in all the Blue Devils we are pleased with their performance, and felt their future was bright.
"I thought we played well for our first home match," Sonne said. "If we focus on each individual skill, we shouldn't have any problems."
Duke won the Loyola Marymount Invitational last weekend, and with a 4-0 record, the Blue Devils look to repeat as ACC champions. Their next matches are this weekend when they play Pittsburgh, Bowling Green and Boston College in the Keystone state at the Pittsburgh Classic.
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