Duke went into last night’s match against Virginia Tech ranked No. 1 defensively in the ACC. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, they didn’t play like a top team.
Duke was unable to stop the Hokies’ offensive attack at Cassell Coliseum, losing 3-1 after the home team posted a .322 hitting percentage.
The loss—spurred by two Virginia Tech (12-6, 3-5 in the ACC) players who turned in errorless performances and a combined 33 kills—marks the first conference match Duke (15-3, 7-1) has dropped this season.
“I feel like they were way more aggressive than we were in serving, playing better defense and going after it a lot more than we were,” head coach Jolene Nagel said.
The Blue Devils lost the first set 25-18 but managed to pull away with a win in the second frame before falling in the third and fourth sets, 21-25 and 17-25, respectively.
“I thought we really touched it up in game two and were serving better and passing better, and it felt good to see our focus be where it needed to be,” Nagel said. “In game three, we just let them come after us and we didn’t really fight back, and by the time we started to get better blocks and play defense, they already had the momentum going on their side.”
Duke fell short in both its defensive and offensive games, allowing the Hokies to come away with six aces and 15 blocks and holding the Blue Devils to a .209 hitting percentage.
Despite solid performances from four players with double-digit kills, Duke hit just .124 over the final two frames and posted its lowest hitting clip since Sept. 11 in the second set.
“We learned a hard lesson [yesterday] that we’ve got to go after it if we want to win,” Nagel said. “It just goes to show how competitive everyone in the ACC is, and that on any given night, it’s really anybody’s game.”
The Blue Devils still hold the top spot in the ACC and face Virginia tonight in an away contest at 7 p.m.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.