The weekend after attaining its highest ranking in program history, No. 11 Duke closed out the Nebraska Players Challenge with a pair of disappointing losses, falling 3-0 to the No. 1 Cornhuskers Friday and 3-2 to Louisville Saturday.
The Blue Devils (5-3) struggled against 2006 NCAA champion Nebraska (5-0), losing three straight games, 30-24, 30-20, 30-23, at NU Coliseum.
Senior Carrie DeMange led Duke with 15 kills and a .440 hitting percentage while junior Jourdan Norman and sophomore Rachael Moss provided additional offensive support with 18 kills. But the Cornhuskers outplayed the Blue Devils as Chris Houghtelling, Jordan Larson and Sarah Pavan all registered double-digit kills, contributing to Nebraska's total of 55 kills-a season-high for opponents against Duke in three-game matches.
Duke fought a tough battle in the first contest, but Nebraska closed out the 30-24 game with a 7-4 run. In the second game, the Cornhusker offense overwhelmed the Blue Devils, and Duke could not break through Nebraska's tough defense in game three.
"I'm very proud of how our team played and competed," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "Nebraska's No. 1 in the country, and they're very good. But I do know that our team had the highest hitting percentage of anyone against them this year."
In Saturday's play, Duke battled for five games with Louisville, which clinched the fifth contest to take the match, 15-12, after the two teams had gone 31-33, 29-31, 34-32, 30-25 through four. In the match, senior Ali Hausfeld notched a career-high 79 assists-Duke's highest single-game total since 1996, when the Blue Devils' all-time assist leader Kristen Campbell posted 84.
"Game three felt pretty good, and then they just started to execute better and were able to get more kills than we were," Nagel said. "That was very disappointing for our whole team, but at the same time it's going to make us better team because by playing this strong competition, we were able to see if we needed to get better in certain areas."
In addition to Hausfeld's career night, several other Blue Devils had their best performances at Duke, including libero Jenny Shull and Moss. Shull had 35 digs, the second-best total of her career and third-best in Blue Devil history. Moss scored 30 kills in the match, becoming the second Blue Devil to reach that benchmark this season-and thus making Duke the only NCAA squad to have two players record 30 or more kills in a single match.
"It was just a really long close match so when you have that opportunity of time, you have a greater opportunity to get more digs," Shull said. "I think we fought really hard all weekend. To barely lose in five-it's very tough for us, and it shows some of our weaknesses, but it definitely shows our strengths."
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