Last season, head coach Jolene Nagel and her team made the deepest NCAA tournament run in program history.
They’ve gotten a strong start to their effort to live up to heightened expectations on the national stage, opening the season with a 3-0 record.
The Blue Devils, who came away with a comeback 3-2 win at home Saturday against Wisconsin to secure their third win, were chosen as the favorites to win the conference in the ACC coaches’ poll. The team boasts a strong set of veterans and depth in the lineup, as well as NCAA tournament experience.
“I think the big thing with this group is they often see the glass half-full, thank goodness, instead of half-empty,” head coach Jolene Nagel said. “They learn from some of their mistakes but start thinking about the next play because it’s all about the next play. In this game, one rotation can make a big difference.”
Duke has spread the wealth on offense early in the season, with several players racking up double-digits in kills throughout the season’s first three games, and Nagel said she attributes these to good decisions from the team’s star players, especially senior setter Kellie Catanach. The team hopes to continue to utilize its depth as the season progresses.
“It’s great to hear that we had a lot of different people in double figures,” Nagel said. “We know we’re going to have our challenges, but I think with our leadership and maturity in a lot of our upperclassmen, we’re going to continue to grow as a team and get better as a team.”
Catanach, who is the reigning ACC Player of the Year, led the Blue Devils to an NCAA round of eight appearance last year, as well as their third ACC championship appearance in the last five years.
“We have set a standard for ourselves, and it’s going to be a new challenge to live up to those standards every match,” Catanach said. “Every match is just as important as the next one in order to stay up there at the top.”
With the graduation of two star seniors this past spring, middle blocker Becci Burling and defensive specialist Claire Smalzer, the squad welcomed four freshmen this year – two setters, one outside hitter and one middle blocker/outside hitter. In addition, junior Megan Hendrickson has stepped up off the bench to claim a crucial starting role.
Joining the lineup from the rookie group is explosive outside hitter Jeme Obeime, whose impressive performance in the team’s first three games earned her an honor as ACC Volleyball Freshmen of the Week Tuesday.
The 5-foot-11 Obeime, from Carmel, Ind., was key to the Blue Devils’ undefeated start, as she has notched a total 35 kills, five aces and 77 attacks in her three games with the team so far.
Duke passed an early-season test with its comeback win over Wisconsin, but it faces more significant contests before the start of its conference schedule, including a West Coast swing that will pit the Blue Devils against Pacific, St. Mary’s and eighth-ranked Stanford.
“As far as our schedule goes, I think it’s a good schedule to prepare us going into the ACC, but also for the competition that we want for an NCAA opportunity,” Nagel said. “We’re going to have to prove ourselves every time we go out there on the court.”
Correction: Duke won the ACC regular season title last year by one game over North Carolina. An earlier version of this article attributed the conference championship to Florida State. The Chronicle regrets the error.Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
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