In their last two weekends, the Blue Devils will have to play the three other top teams in the conference, but they must get through rematches on the road against Wake Forest Friday at 6:30 p.m. and against Georgia Tech Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“We need to refocus ourselves and make sure that we prepare,” head coach Jolene Nagel. “To be honest with you we haven’t seen [the Demon Deacons] in a long time, so we have to make sure we’re doing our due diligence in order to play them [Friday].”
No. 13 Duke (22-3, 13-1) enters the weekend’s contests having won its last eight games and 18 of its last 19 after taking down both Pittsburgh and Maryland last weekend. Earlier in the season, the Blue Devils had no problem defeating Wake Forest (15-11, 4-10) in straight sets Oct. 6 in Durham with three players—senior Chelsea Cook, sophomore Emily Sklar and junior Jeme Obeime—all registering double-digit kill totals.
Despite Duke’s strong performance so far this season, Nagel is wary of the matchup with the Demon Deacons. The Blue Devils have fallen to Wake Forest on each of their last three trips to Reynolds Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.
“Our focus going into Wake Forest is to go on the road and play up to our capabilities there at Wake in their facility because I don’t think we’ve done that as well as we should have the last few years,” Nagel said.
After starting the season with a 11-1 record, the Demon Deacons have since struggled, losing 10 of their next 14 since starting ACC play, but they have maintained a winning record at home and have held opponents to a .179 hitting percentage on the season.
“It’s an incredibly loud facility and they’ve been getting some big crowds,” Nagel said. “They have a great atmosphere… so we have to go in there and support each other in order to come out of their with a win.”
Coming back from Winston-Salem, Duke will have a quick turnaround and host the Yellow Jackets (10-17, 4-11). When the two squads played Oct. 18 in Atlanta, Duke won in straight sets, but the spotlight went to senior libero Ali McCurdy, who recorded 16 digs to break the program's all-time record.
Despite suffering the loss, Georgia Tech kept it close and registered at least 20 points in each set.
“It was neck-and-neck when we were down there,” Nagel said. “It was three sets, but it wasn’t an easy three sets, and so I look for that to be an even more challenging match at home here because I think both teams have matured and grown since last time.”
To have success against the Yellow Jackets, the Blue Devils will have to key their defensive effort on senior Jenifer Percy, who had nine kills in the first matchup and has recorded 292 on the season.
“She’s extremely talented and does a great job with [kills] as an outside hitter and has an ability to put the ball away whenever she has the chance to play it,” Nagel said.
In addition to giving Duke an opportunity to keep its conference lead and its winning streak, the weekend series gives the team a break from the road before heading to Miami and No. 22 Florida State next weekend.
“It’s going to be nice to get back into Cameron,” Nagel said.
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