The volleyball team (21-6, 9-3 in the ACC) ruined Maryland's hopes for an upset, pulling out a hard-fought win this weekend at Ritchie Coliseum in College Park, Md. The Terrapins (16-12, 5-8) pushed the match to five games, but in the end the Blue Devils' offense showed that it can dominate when necessary.
"This was an important win for us," Duke head coach Jolene Nagel said. "We needed to execute and block so we could play defense against their hitters. In game five we had good defensive plays and made good decisions offensively to secure the match. We're excited to come away with a win because Maryland is a very good team."
Maryland came out strong in the first game, overwhelming Duke with its offense and capitalizing on the Blue Devils' errors en route to a 30-24 win. In the next two games, however, the Blue Devils showed their commanding offensive strength.
With senior co-captain Krista Dill, out due to injury, the Duke players each stepped up their game. Katie Gilman led the team with 17 kills in the match, including three of the last five points to give Duke the win in the second game 30-28 and knot the score at 1-1.
"The second game was a real turning point for us," said co-captain Jill Sonne. "We fought back and ended up winning the game by a real narrow margin. It ultimately allowed us to take the match to five games."
After Duke took the third game 30-22 to lead the match 2-1, the momentum shifted in the fourth game as the Terps won the first four points and nine of the first eleven.
Duke's intensity dropped, allowing Maryland's star player Lynnsy Jones-who posted a team-high 21 kills throughout the match-to lead her team to 30-19 victory in the fourth game.
But when the match was on the line, the Blue Devils stepped up. Duke took the final game 15-8 to eke out a 3-2 victory over the Terps.
Sunday's win left Duke in third place in the ACC and extended the Blue Devils' winning streak to seven matches. Boosted by the streak and a confident team that continues to improve with each game, Sonne noted that Duke is focusing on the immediate future, though it continues to keep a collective eye on repeating as conference champions in late November.
"We're taking one game at a time, but we do have hopes for a championship," Sonne said. "We still focusing on preparing to take on UNC and Georgia Tech again and just do as much as we can to better ourselves in the ACC standings."
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