Anna Kropf has seen her playing time drop in the last month as underclassmen have stepped into bigger roles, but the junior middle blocker was an unlikely hero in Duke’s comeback win Wednesday night.
The Blue Devils won the last five points of the match to rally for a dramatic five-set 20-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-17, 15-12 victory against Wake Forest at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C. Kropf appeared in just three sets but notched all four of her kills in the deciding fifth set, helping Duke rally from deficits of 6-2, 8-4 and 12-10 to emerge with its eighth victory in its last nine games.
“I really commend her because she wasn’t in a lot of the match, and yet she maintained that focus, maintained that energy, that ability to go in and get it done right away,” Blue Devil head coach Jolene Nagel said. “She did a beautiful job of that tonight and really helped lift us in that fifth set.”
After the Demon Deacons (7-11, 3-4 in the ACC) won a tight third frame to pull within one set of their first win against Duke since 2012, the Blue Devils (12-5, 6-1) relied on their defense to get back in the match. Duke held Wake Forest to a .091 hitting percentage in the fourth set, coasting to a 25-17 win to force the deciding set.
Senior defensive specialist Sasha Karelov led the defensive effort with 29 digs during the match, and the Blue Devils also finished with 10 total blocks, forcing Kylie Long—the Demon Deacons’ season leader in kills—into 10 attack errors.
“Our backcourt was working really hard on defense to be able to get their hands on some balls,” Nagel said. “We just picked up our defense, our blocking defense, in the fourth and fifth sets, which we really needed earlier in the match.”
Duke maintained the defensive intensity in the fifth set, as Wake Forest hit just .136 and made five attack errors down the stretch to help the Blue Devils to close the match with an 11-4 run.
After the defense helped Duke rally, Kropf took care of the rest, putting down a kill to even the score at 12 and tallying another kill three points later to seal the win. The Blue Devils have now won their last three five-set matches after dropping two out of three that went the distance early in the season.
“In the fifth sets, you don’t have time to think about anything other than how to get the next point, but our team has done a great job of hanging tough,” Nagel said. “It’s kind of a character win for us tonight because we’re on the road playing maybe not our absolute best, but hanging tough in there and trying to keep the focus that was necessary to make things happen for ourselves.”
The Demon Deacons were energized coming out of the gate looking to avenge a four-set loss to Duke Sept. 21 in both squads' ACC opener, allowing the Blue Devils a 2-1 lead before going on an early 11-4 run to take control of the first set. Duke dropped the first set for the second match in a row after having to rally for a four-set win against Virginia Tech Sunday.
But senior middle blocker Jordan Tucker helped even the match with six kills in a close 25-22 second-set win. Tucker led the team with 16 kills on the night.
“Jordan has been incredibly consistent and just a leader for us out there on the court the whole time, and she did that again tonight,” Nagel said. “We just are fortunate that we have somebody that’s able to do that. It’s fun to watch her do it.”
Freshman Samantha Amos added a career-high 14 kills, and sophomore middle blocker Leah Meyer rounded out the Blue Devil attack with 13 kills and a .435 hitting percentage.
Wake Forest rebounded with an impressive third set to pull ahead once again, hitting .359 with freshman outside hitter Caroline Rassenfoss leading the charge. Rassenfoss notched seven kills in the third set and finished with a game-high 21, beating her 20 from the Demon Deacons' first matchup with Duke.
The Blue Devils mounted a comeback Wednesday, but will hope to avoid trailing early for the third straight match when they face Virginia Saturday at home. The Cavaliers pushed Duke to five sets Sept. 24.
“We’ve had slow starts to our practices lately... so we’ve got to do something about that,” Nagel said. “We’ll certainly be working on that to make sure we have a good start come Saturday.”
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