It was time for the volleyball team to get down to business.
The Blue Devils spent the entire preseason trying to improve themselves and move on from last year’s omission from the NCAA tournament. Early signs were encouraging, but the team had yet to play against another squad. But after Duke’s first real test, coach Jolene Nagel says she is pleased with the results.
“We did some great things and saw some things we have to do better,” Nagel said. “I think we’re going to learn a lot for future competitions.... It was a great team effort.”
That effort produced a 2-1 record at the Crowne Plaza Rice Invitational in Houston against three teams that won their respective conferences last year. It was not the 3-0 mark that Nagel had hoped for, but, according to the coach, it was “very productive.”
The Blue Devils (2-1) beat McNeese State, 3-1, Sept. 2, then turned around to face off against Rice later that evening. In the second game, the Owls, who are coming off a 25-2 season that culminated in an NCAA berth, swept the Blue Devils, 3-0.
The team was able to turn it around by the following day, sweeping Sacramento State, 3-0. Last season, the Hornets finished 25-8 to win their eighth straight Big Sky Conference title and earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Nagel was most pleased by her team’s improvement between the second and third matches. After the sweep by Rice, Duke reevaluated its mental preparation.
“When we came to the third match, we had a different focus,” Nagel said. “We were focused against Rice, but not sure about how to get through tough situations. Against Sacramento State, we had a confident focus, where when we did get in tough situations, we could pull ourselves out of it.”
Middle blocker Carrie DeMange shone in the sweep over the Hornets (1-5), recording a double-double (17 kills, 15 digs), while playing the entire match and hitting .467.
Against the Owls (4-0), Nagel said the Blue Devils played well the first two games, but that their level of play fell off in the third game, leading to too many errors. Duke also recorded fewer digs than Rice, a factor the Blue Devil head coach said contributed to the loss.
“Rice beat us because they were the more aggressive team,” she said. “Going into Sacramento State, we wanted to dig more balls than our opponent and be the most aggressive team on the court, and that would lead to us playing better.”
In the McNeese State matchup, Duke easily won the first game, 30-9. The Cowboys (2-3) rebounded to take the second game, but the Blue Devils won games three and four to win the match.
“Losing the second game was purely mental,” Nagel said. “But it was a good thing because they could see things can fall apart very quickly when they don’t pass well.”
Nagel gave time to more players than will likely see the floor regularly during the ACC part of the schedule, and said she is in the process of creating a more defined rotation.
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