As fall sports come to the end of their seasons, each win becomes more important and each loss more heart-wrenching. This weekend, the volleyball team (22-7, 10-4 in the ACC) was delt one of each. In a tough match against long-standing rival UNC (24-2, 11-1), the Blue Devils went down in three games only to shut out N.C. State (3-28, 0-13) less than a day later.
Saturday night against N.C. State, the Blue Devils looked like the team that has been winning game after game for the past few weeks. After Sonne opened the contest with an ace, the bleachers in Cameron once again came alive. Having regained the fans' support, the Blue Devils averaged a hitting percentage of .206 and dominated the first and second game.
The third game started off in the same manner, Duke beginning strong leading 7-2, but the Wolfpack fought its way to 11-11 tie.
Led by Maya Mapp and Rebecca Anderson, State kept the game within one or two points until the very end when the Blue Devils finally capitalized, taking the game 37-35. Even so, Duke dominated in hitting percentage, assists, service aces and digs.
With the Duke offense overwhelming the Wolfpack, the younger Blue Devils saw some playing time. The team said that it was reassuring, especially at the end of the season, to see the growing potential of the younger team.
"We were able to get playing time for many of our younger players tonight and it was exciting to see them on the court," said head coach Jolene Nagel after the match.
However, Friday's match against UNC was a different story.
"[UNC] played better than us [Friday], but we're very capable of being successful against them," Nagel said.
Beyond impressive Carolina power attacks, fueled by outside hitters Molly Pyles and Laura Greene, Friday night's match was marked mostly by Duke errors. After falling to the Tar Heels in the first game, the frazzled Blue Devils canceled their kills with attack errors, leaving Duke with a hitting percentage of 0.00.
By keeping it close in the third game, the Blue Devils 3-0 loss to Carolina was unlike most shut-outs.
Duke was leading 25-22 before ultimately succumbing 30-28. Blue Devil Jill Sonne made three crucial blocks against Carolina power-hitter Greene, they were then echoed by teammate Katie Gilman whose two consecutive blocks brought the game to 27 all.
Still, Duke came up short and lost on a kill by Pyles.
"We waited too long to come up," Gillman said. "We have to come up from the beginning and be aggressive throughout the whole game... We're going to use this as motivation for tomorrow night."
Duke still has to face Clemson and Georgia Tech before the ACC Championships in Atlanta. The results this weekend have clearly laid out the team's strengths and its weaknesses, and the team feels the upcoming games will undoubtedly be hard fought with unparalleled determination.
"We need to go into each game with motivation, and practice with purpose," Sonne said. "We still haven't reached our goal, yet."
Shane Ryan contributed to this story.
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