Duke’s second road trip of the season ended with something its first trip did not—a tournament title.
Playing in Athens, Ga. at the Dawgs Invitational over the weekend, the Blue Devils (5-1) defeated Georgia in four sets and swept South Alabama and Tennessee State to earn first place.
“Our team had a great weekend, and the fact that we won the tournament was great because it was an entire team effort,” head coach Jolene Nagel said. “It’s just really neat with this particular team because not only do they perform well all together out there on the court, but they have fun together as a team.”
The match the Blue Devils expected to challenge them most this weekend came against Georgia (4-2) Friday. Duke won the first set but fell short in the second set, 25-21. That would prove to be the only set the Blue Devils lost all weekend, though, and Duke pulled out the win over the Bulldogs.
Middle blockers Sophia Dunworth, Becci Burling and Amanda Robertson contributed to a strong Blue Devil defensive effort and providing an offensive boost. The trio combined for 39 kills against Georgia, and all three were named to the all-tournament team. Dunworth was named MVP of the tournament.
“[The Bulldogs] were definitely a strong opponent for us, and walking into that gym, I knew we had the ability and capabilities to win, but we had to be mentally tough because they had a good crowd, home environment, the band, the cheerleaders and all of that there,” Nagel said. “That’s great for [our players] to play in that environment and be under the gun and under that pressure because we’re going to have to face that all season.”
After defeating Georgia, Duke kept up its momentum with 3-0 wins against South Alabama (4-3) and Tennessee State (1-5).
Against the Jaguars, the Blue Devils never allowed more than 21 points. And the Tigers committed 12 attack errors in the first set alone and never recovered.
Despite its good performance this past weekend, there are still elements the team needs to improve on for its upcoming games, including its home opener Wednesday against Colorado State in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“We always have things we need to work on, and there is no doubt that we have a pretty good idea of that going into this next week of practice,” Nagel said. “We’re going to continue to work on our offense as far as being consistent with our service, making sure we can capitalize on the abilities of our team offensively and continuing to work on our communication.”
Though the women have a match next week against two-time defending national champions Penn State, the coach said she takes one game at a time and focuses more on the game against Colorado State coming up.
“We learned a lot about ourselves this weekend, and this tournament gave us confidence and told us a lot about ourselves as far as our ability to work,” Nagel said. “As a coach I look at each opponent as a national champion. I look at them all the same way and prepare.”
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