Last season, Cindy Marina stepped in in her first year in Durham and played every set for the Blue Devils to anchor them at setter.
Now, Duke is trying to replace the freshman that transferred closer to home to Southern California—and so far, the results have been promising.
A trio of Emma Paradiso, Haley Seyfarth and Sarah Nelson that is competing for the starting job helped set up a three-game sweep last weekend in Colorado, and will look to continue that momentum into the Duke Invitational Friday and Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils will take on UNC Wilmington at 10 a.m. Friday, Northwestern at 7 p.m., and will close the tournament against South Carolina Saturday at 3 p.m.
“We’re trying to see what system is going to work best for our team and what personnel are best for our team,” Duke head coach Jolene Nagel said. “All three are contributing in that area and working very hard….I’m very excited about what I have seen from our team early in the season.”
A senior, Paradiso was the only one of the three with game experience at Duke (3-0) heading into this season, logging time in eight matches and totaling six assists and three digs in eight sets. She has been the most productive so far through a weekend of play, averaging 5.9 assists per set.
Paradiso saw the bulk of the action in Duke's three game set, though Nagel said the competition between the three is still open. Nelson did not play in the final game of the weekend against Northern Colorado and played in just five sets in total—Seyfarth played in 11.
Seyfarth played at Palm Beach State for two years, earning NJCAA All-America honors before transferring to Duke this year, and Nelson redshirted last season as a freshman.
The squad will now prepare to take on three very young teams this weekend, all of which ranked outside the top 100 teams in the country last season in RPI and combine to have just four seniors on their rosters.
The most experienced team, Northwestern (2-1)—with three seniors—has had strong recruiting classes under second-year head coach Shane Davis, but the Wildcats struggled mightily last season. Davis won two national championships as a men’s volleyball coach at Loyola University, but his team went just just 3-17 in Big Ten play last season.
“His staff has done a great job with recruiting,” Nagel said. “Last year might have been a bit of a challenge, but I anticipate they’re going to come in here and be a big challenge for us. They’re a physical team.”
South Carolina is similarly physical, finishing fifth in the SEC in blocks last season, led by current sophomore Alicia Starr. She set the program's freshman record for blocks per set in the rally-scoring era, and will present a tough test for Duke's offense to grapple with.
“They’re a very physical team,” Nagel said. “That’ll be something we have to take into consideration and either balance it out or make sure that we turn it into one of our strengths.”
UNC Wilmington also has a stingy defense that will also test the Blue Devils’ green setters—it held opponents to just a .171 hitting percentage last season, second in the Colonial Athletic Association. Last year, the Seahawks finished with the best RPI of any of the three teams Duke will face this weekend at No. 104.
Ultimately, this slate chock full of nonconference teams could prove crucial to the Blue Devils' NCAA tournament hopes. Last year, Duke fell just short of an NCAA tournament berth on selection day, and it hopes to avoid the same fate this season.
“These are all really important for our schedule, but the big reason why you’re playing outside of your conference [is because] you all get compared to each other ultimately,” Nagel said. “We’re trying to put ourselves in a position to give ourselves an opportunity to get quality wins.”
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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.