McCurdy digs past Wolfpack

Coming off a huge rivalry upset over North Carolina Wednesday, Duke kept rolling in a straight-set victory over N.C. State.

The Blue Devils extended its 20-game ACC home win streak—and sixth straight conference win overall—Friday night, beating the Wolfpack 25-20, 25-19, 25-21.

“I think it was really huge for us to come out and show that Wednesday night wasn’t a fluke,” senior outside hitter Sophia Dunworth said.

Duke (14-6, 8-3 in the ACC) had a strong start in the first game, immediately jumping ahead of the Wolfpack (15-9, 3-8 in the ACC) by four points. The Blue Devils put N.C. State’s defense on its heels as it struggled to handle tough serves from senior middle blocker Amanda Robertson. Robertson tallied a team-high 12 kills in the match, to go along with 14 digs.

The Wolfpack soon rallied, though, building momentum as the set continued. The back-and-forth game was marked by the Blue Devils’ inability to significantly widen the point margin, allowing N.C. State to catch up several times. Ultimately, Duke overwhelmed the Wolfpack for the last five points, aided by consistent serves from senior setter Kellie Catanach and an ace from Dunworth.

The Blue Devils were dominant throughout the second set, allowing N.C. State to convert on only eight of 42 attack attempts. Freshman outside hitter Jeme Obeime led the Duke offensive effort, tallying eight kills and an impressive .500 hitting percentage in the game. Unlike the first set, the Blue Devils were able to maintain a steady lead, boasting a team attack percentage of .317 compared to N.C. State’s .071.

The third set proved to be the closest of the match. The score was tied nine times, but the error-prone Wolfpack was stunted by the Ali McCurdy-led Duke defense. McCurdy, a sophomore libero, added 29 to her ACC-leading 385 digs in the match. The Blue Devils relied on Catanach to orchestrate the offense, and the setter kept N.C. State off-balance by spreading the ball around to a variety of Duke hitters.

“The team played so well earlier this week [against North Carolina] and it was such an emotional exciting environment with the support that we had,” head coach Jolene Nagel said. “We talked a lot about how we needed to come out with the same kind of urgency we felt on Wednesday night. I thought the team did a good job trying to bring that [focus] out.”