Three games in Colorado present challenging opening weekend for Duke volleyball

<p>&nbsp;Junior Leah Meyer was second on the team in kills last season.&nbsp;</p>

 Junior Leah Meyer was second on the team in kills last season. 

After falling short of a bid to the NCAA tournament last year, Duke will get an early litmus test in its season opener against a team that did play into the postseason in 2016.    

The Blue Devils open their season at Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colo., against Colorado State at 8 Friday night. Duke will then play a doubleheader Saturday at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley, Colo., facing Central Florida at 1 p.m. and Northern Colorado at 9 p.m. After losing a lot of experience and production in the offseason, the Blue Devils will look to show poise and challenge themselves out of the gate.   

Sasha Karelov, Chloe Dipasquale and Jordan Tucker all graduated after last season, outside hitter Jamie Stivers left the team and setter Cindy Marina transferred closer to home to Southern California. Now, Duke will have to depend heavily on its senior captain defensive duo of Nicole Elattrache and Emma Paradiso as well as three new freshmen. 

Junior Leah Meyer, who was second on the team in kills last season behind Tucker, is also back along with classmate Jessi Bartholomew and sophomore Samantha Amos on the front row.   

“Losing Jordan, Sasha and all of the seniors was really hard to do, but we’ve already had a lot of people step up. I’m looking forward to stepping up and helping the team and really doing as much as I can do,” junior Leah Meyer said. “The seniors this year have been amazing so far and we’re definitely not at a loss from any leadership position.”

Freshmen Summer Brown, Payton Schwantz and Kincey Smith and incoming Palm Beach State transfer Haley Seyfarth will hope to replace some of the talent that was lost. Brown, a 6-foot-5 middle blocker, is the tallest players the Blue Devils have had in years and could ease some of the pressure on Duke's back row with her height at the net.

"The freshman class has been a joy so far," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "It is wonderful to have a player as tall as Summer is, and she's very mobile for a kid her size, so we're just having a whole lot of fun being able to work with her and coach her."

The Rams have a similarly young team, but all of their returning threats have something that only the Blue Devils' seniors share: NCAA tournament experience. Colorado State went 21-9 last season and 15-3 in the Mountain West before falling in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Kentucky. 

The Rams had four of the seven players on the preseason All-Mountain West team, including senior leader Sanja Cizmic, who had a team-high 335 kills last season.    

“This weekend will be exciting. Unfortunately, we don’t get to scrimmage before we compete—we get thrown right into the fire," Nagel said. "Colorado State is right in the fire. They’re a very solid team and have been for years—it’ll be a very good crowd for us to play in front of.”

Central Florida and Northern Colorado are each also coming off winning seasons, and nearly half of Duke's opponents had at least 20 victories a season ago. The Blue Devils, who were picked to finish just seventh in the ACC, could need a few quality wins in their nonconference slate to start building an NCAA tournament resume.

“We’re the underdogs this year and we have to work our way to the top—fighting for every game and proving people wrong is going to be the most exciting,” senior outside hitter Cadie Bates said. “By the end of the year, we want to be the best we can be and make the tournament, as it’s our last go-around.”  

Hank Tucker contributed reporting.

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