When Duke travels to Wake Forest for its 7 p.m. matchup Tuesday night, the Blue Devils may be able to achieve not one but two major milestones.
Senior Jourdan Norman is 12 blocks shy of Duke's all-time blocks record, and head coach Jolene Nagel needs just one win to become the eighth coach in ACC history to win 200 matches at an ACC school.
Not that you would know it from talking to Norman or Nagel.
"It's exciting, of course, and it would be really cool if I break it, but the record is not what's at the front of my mind. The team is," Norman said.
"To be honest, I don't even know our team record, let alone anything about my personal record," said Nagel, who took her 400th career victory against Delaware Sept. 20. "My biggest focus right now is to help this team and get the win."
And after splitting a pair of matches against ACC opponents Miami and Florida State over the weekend, the Blue Devils (10-4, 1-1 in the ACC) will certainly have a drive to beat Wake Forest (10-4, 1-1) besides simply setting records.
"We went into the weekend hoping to come out with two wins, and that didn't happen," freshman setter Kellie Catanach said. "So we are really looking to prove in [tonight's] game to prove that we belong at the top of the ACC."
On Thursday, the Blue Devils fell to Miami 3-1 in Cameron Indoor Stadium in their ACC season opener. Although it bounced back the next day to defeat Florida State 3-1 for their first ACC win of the season, Duke still emerged from the weekend with a chip on its shoulder.
"The Miami game is still fresh in our memories, and that will be the motivating factor," Nagel said. "We want to go out and prove ourselves again."
Still, the Blue Devils don't expect a win to be easy.
"Wake Forest is a really good team," Nagel said. "Last year, all their players were down with injuries. But this year they're back, they're healthy and they're playing good volleyball. What's more, it's always difficult to play on the road, especially in the ACC."
And if Duke can figure out the formula for road volleyball in the conference, the celebration on the ride home could be doubly raucous.
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