Duke volleyball hits better than .400 in dominant win against Georgia Tech

Cadie Bates hit better than .500 to fuel a nearly flawless performance for the Blue Devils.
Cadie Bates hit better than .500 to fuel a nearly flawless performance for the Blue Devils.

Like a .400 batting average for a baseball player, a .400 hitting percentage for a volleyball team represents a rare display of dominance and efficiency.

Duke exceeded that mark Sunday, hitting .411 in a 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-14) sweep of Georgia Tech to cap off its first weekend of ACC play. It was Duke's best hitting percentage since a sweep of Cal State Fullerton Aug. 27, 2015, and its best in a conference game since it hit .427 against Miami in 2014.

The numbers tell the story of a thorough blowout—the Blue Devils had 43 kills and just four attack errors while forcing the Yellow Jackets to make 21 errors and hit just .110. Outside hitters Cadie Bates, Samantha Amos and Natalie Schilling all finished with at least nine kills and a hitting percentage better than .500.

"Every time we went up for a swing, I felt like we were really confident and the setters put us in a really good spot against one-on-one blocks a lot of the time," Bates said. "It was just a fun game. We came out really intense."

There no repeat of the slow start in Friday's win against Wake Forest, when the Blue Devils dropped the first set before staging a comeback. Duke opened with a nearly flawless frame with 13 kills and no errors. Two separate 7-0 runs gave the Blue Devils a commanding 17-7 lead, and Duke spread the wealth to five players with at least two kills in the set.

"Our goal for the ACC was to come out strong this weekend, win the first set, dominate the rest of the game," Bates said. "Once we took that first set, we just had this wave of confidence and we were in that zone and we wanted to keep it up."

The Blue Devil defense also set the tone in the first set with six blocks, led by junior Leah Meyer, who returned to the floor this weekend after an injury sidelined her for three weeks. Meyer led the team with seven block assists, and Duke finished with 11 team blocks. Georgia Tech veteran Gabriela Stavnetchei only converted 11 of her 39 chances for kills, with two Blue Devils usually in her way on the other side of the net.

"The block was doing a great job of setting up, and our defense was doing a great job of getting the ball to targets so that the sets could be there," Duke head coach Jolene Nagel said. "It was a team effort on all ends of what we were trying to work on." 

The second stanza was more competitive, featuring 10 ties, but the Blue Devils took the lead for good at 17-16 on a service ace that was misplayed by Georgia Tech. Duke pulled away with a 7-1 run that included three kills from sophomore Natalie Schilling to close out the set.

The Blue Devils produced more of the same in the third set, with 16 kills on 26 swings to post a sizzling .577 hitting percentage. The Yellow Jackets, who beat Duke in each of the last two years, never had a chance to get close.

"We’ll find some things from that match that we can get a little bit better on, but we’ll also see some great things that they need to celebrate," Nagel said. "They get a day off tomorrow, that’s for sure."

The Blue Devils will look to stay perfect in conference play next weekend at home against Syracuse and Boston College.

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