Duke volleyball falls at N.C. State to close regular season, misses NCAA tournament for second straight year

<p>Sophomore middle blocker Leah Meyer had another strong game Saturday but the Blue Devils suffered their second straight loss.&nbsp;</p>

Sophomore middle blocker Leah Meyer had another strong game Saturday but the Blue Devils suffered their second straight loss. 

Update: Since this article was originally published Sunday morning, the Blue Devils were left out of the NCAA tournament field for the second straight year when it was announced Sunday night. 

The Blue Devils entered the week with their sights set on an ACC championship and a potential berth in the NCAA tournament. 

Now, a fourth-place finish in the ACC just might have to do.

In its last chance to impress the NCAA selection committee after losing to rival North Carolina Wednesday, Duke fell 3-1 (23-25, 16-25, 25-20, 21-25) to N.C. State Saturday afternoon at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh. The ordinarily-stout Blue Devil defense—ranked fourth in the ACC in opponents' hitting percentage—faltered, failing to record a single block until midway through the second set and yielding a .305 hitting percentage to the Wolfpack.

"We just didn’t get started with a solid block early in the match in order to slow them down offensively," Duke head coach Jolene Nagel said. "We needed to have a better block and defense early on and things could have been a little different." 

Before their two losses to end the season, the Blue Devils ranked 59th in RPI and had not managed to beat a ranked team this season, factors that the committee will consider when handing out bids for the 64-team tournament.

Saturday's defeat marked just the second time all season that a team hit better than .300 against Duke (21-9, 15-5 in the ACC). Junior outside hitter Julia Brown led the way for N.C. State with 24 kills—one of four Wolfpack players to notch double-digit kills.

Duke started the match strong, initially building a 20-18 lead in the first frame. But the Wolfpack (20-12, 13-7) used a 7-3 rally to close out the set and go up 1-0. 

N.C. State built on its momentum, capturing the second set thanks to seven kills from Brown, who ranked third in the ACC in kills per contest entering the weekend. The Davidson, N.C., native also notched three blocks and 11 digs.

The Blue Devils rebounded in the third stanza. Down 14-10 and on the brink of a straight set defeat to end the regular season, Duke rallied behind five kills from senior middle blocker Jordan Tucker and sophomore middle blocker Leah Meyer, finishing on a 15-6 run to win its first set of the match. 

"Meyer has had an incredible year in terms of just progressing in her game. She had a monster game today, both in her hitting and her blocking," Nagel said. "Tucker is going to be a very difficult player to replace. I don’t know if you can replace a player like that because she’s so talented, so driven, so competitive, and smart out there on the volleyball court." 

But outside of Meyer and Tucker—who hit .452 and .516—only one Duke player recorded a hitting percentage higher than .125. The Wolfpack defense stood tall, recording 14 blocks, paced by six from junior middle blocker Kaitlyn Kearney.

The Blue Devils carried some of their momentum into the fourth set, jumping out to an early 5-2 lead. But Duke quickly lost its edge, eventually trailing by as many as seven en route to a 25-21 defeat in the final set of Sunday's contest. 

Nagel's team will learn if it will continue its season Sunday at 9 p.m. during the NCAA tournament selection show as the bracket is unveiled.

The Blue Devils are hoping to get back to the postseason after failing to qualify last year—something they have done in 12 of Nagel's last 15 seasons in Durham.

"We’re going to be on the table to be discussed," Nagel said. "We would have certainly helped ourselves with a win today. That would have been huge. Certainly this team with what it’s been through with early injuries and growth and development, [it's] a very deserving team. But we didn’t help ourselves by not getting this win today."


Ben Leonard profile
Ben Leonard

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. 

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