Duke volleyball takes two of three in Louisville

After conceding its first loss of the season to the reigning Big East Champion Louisville Cardinals Friday night, the Duke volleyball team rallied Saturday to beat both Samford and Marshall at the Yum Center in Louisville, Ky.

Duke (5-1) fell just short in its first set against the Cardinals (6-1), losing 22-25. Committing 17 total errors in the match, hitting, service and blocking mishaps plagued Duke much of the night.

“We certainly could have gotten that first game, and that might have changed a lot for us.” Blue Devil head coach Jolene Nagel said. “We did not have the errors in set one, but in set two, the service errors started to creep in…. We might have been doing a lot of great things, but then we kept shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Louisville’s eight errors for the match were few enough for the Cardinals to sweep the Blue Devils in three straight sets. Louisville was led by last season’s Big East Player of the Year, Lola Arslanbekova. The senior outside hitter from Uzbekistan posted a match-high 19 kills and 12 digs to lead the Cardinals.

Sophomore outside hitter Jeme Obeime and freshman outside hitter Emily Sklar recorded 10 kills each to pace the Blue Devil offense. Sklar, who picked up ACC Freshman of the Week honors last week, recorded 19 and 13 kills in the matches against Samford and Marshall, respectively.

Duke got back on track Saturday, beating Samford three sets to one and Marshall three sets to none. Duke’s defense was especially strong against Marshall. Junior libero Ali McCurdy recorded 22 digs in the match, earning her a spot alongside Sklar on the All-Tournament Team.

Despite the loss of a talented batch of seniors last season to graduation, including All-American setter Kellie Catanach, this year’s underclassmen have stepped up to fill the voids. Sophomores Kelsey Williams and Maggie Deichmeister came in to fill Catanach’s crucial position. In Saturday evening’s game alone, the two added 20 assists apiece.

“Because we have so many freshmen, the team is still really trying to get to know each other both on and off the court,” Nagel said. “I am very pleased with the progress, effort and attitude so far this season.… I think that we are trying to figure out what will make our team best still. I don’t think we have all those answers yet.”