Mistakes are inevitable for a young team on the rise, but thanks to some veteran leadership, the Blue Devils are learning how to respond to them.
Both senior leaders and inexperienced freshman put together standout performances to help Duke sweep a two-game weekend home stretch with wins against Pittsburgh Friday night (25-18, 20-25, 25-17, 25-20) and Virginia Tech (23-25, 25-14, 25-11, 25-13) Sunday afternoon at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
After sluggish starts to both contests, freshman setter Cindy Marina and the Blue Devil defense found a rhythm to get Duke on track. Marina had 73 assists combined in the two games, and senior middle blocker Jordan Tucker notched a career-high 10 blocks Friday to snap Pittsburgh’s six-game winning streak and hand the Panthers their first ACC loss.
“I definitely look to our seniors to be leaders for us for sure, but I don’t think a whole lot about who’s a freshman or who’s a sophomore or who’s a junior because we’ve got to play as a team,” Duke head coach Jolene Nagel said after Sunday’s game. “I’m excited we were able to get these two matches at home to help our team understand that they can do it.”
The surging Blue Devils (11-5, 5-1 in the ACC) entered Friday’s game having won five of their past six, and kept climbing up the ACC standings by shutting down Pittsburgh’s outside hitters.
After struggling in previous games to win the block battle, including in a 19.5-9.5 deficit in that department during a Sept. 30 loss at Notre Dame, Duke notched 16.5 blocks Friday thanks to Tucker's effort at the net. The senior co-captain also shone on offense, putting up a .278 hitting percentage, the second-highest mark on the team, as the Blue Devils combined for 50 kills.
Although Duke held the Panthers to a .024 hitting percentage in the first set and a .201 clip overall, 13 errors in the first two sets kept the Blue Devils knotted 1-1 with the Panthers.
But as has been the case since Duke started the season 4-4, Nagel's team found its footing in the final two sets, with freshman Jamie Stivers' 12 kills powering the Blue Devils to a statement ACC win early in conference play.
“We’ve got to continue to work together, but we’ve continued to grow and that’s awesome and we’re going to continue to make that happen," Nagel said. "Hopefully it gives us some momentum moving forward.”
Despite the strong finish to Friday's game, the Blue Devils failed to carry their strong play into their next contest against the Hokies (8-9, 3-3), finding themselves in a 14-10 hole early on in the first set.
After a quick turnaround from Friday’s game, Marina acknowledged that Duke was “a little tired,” and it showed—the Blue Devils posted just a .204 hitting percentage to start the game.
“We weren’t digging balls, we weren’t blocking, and we weren’t serving tough,” Nagel said.
Nagel was forced to take a timeout to rally the troops, and her team emerged spirited, quickly tying the frame at 14 apiece. Duke ultimately dropped the set 25-23, but never looked back, rattling off the next three sets to pick up their 27th win in 31 matchups against the Hokies.
“[Nagel] was a little bit angry because obviously we weren’t playing our best volleyball, so that really motivated us,” Marina said. “She told us to go out there and do what we do like we know how to play volleyball.”
Marina played with the sort of edge that Nagel was looking for, racking up 15 digs in addition to six kills and four blocks. She was one of four players with double-digit digs and set up Stivers and company in the final three sets following the Blue Devils' sluggish start.
Stivers led the way Sunday with 15 kills and 18 digs to fuel Duke's dominance in the final three sets, which included an 8-1 start in the second set, a 15-3 opening in the third, and a 13-5 run to close the final set and extend the Blue Devils' winning streak to three games.
“We got a little comfortable," Stivers said. "We really realized that in the ACC, every team comes to beat you, especially when they come to our home court in Cameron. We really have to fight and give all of our effort and work. I felt we did a lot better coming in after we talked after that first set.”
Now playing its best volleyball of the year, Duke will take on Wake Forest on the road Wednesday before hosting Virginia Saturday.
The Blue Devils knocked off the Cavaliers in five sets earlier this season.
“These two wins at home are really good for our momentum,” Marina said. “We’re going to try to go out next week, we’re going to be away, but still try to bring the fire that we brought at Cameron.”
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Managing Editor 2018-19, 2019-2020 Features & Investigations Editor
A member of the class of 2020 hailing from San Mateo, Calif., Ben is The Chronicle's Towerview Editor and Investigations Editor. Outside of the Chronicle, he is a public policy major working towards a journalism certificate, has interned at the Tampa Bay Times and NBC News and frequents Pitchforks.