Just hearing about Duke’s schedule over the past week is exhausting. The Blue Devils had three straight games at the Duke invitational, a midweek game at Elon and will host two more home games Friday and Saturday. Despite the exhausting schedule, Duke went on the road Tuesday evening to Elon and defeated the Phoenix 3-1.
"For that midweek match, to do it in an away place was helpful for us," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "We had three tough matches this past weekend but felt our team worked hard and pushed through to be able to get that match [Tuesday]."
The Blue Devils (5-2) had a strong offense led by senior outside hitter Gracie Johnson, who had 13 kills. She was followed right behind by sophomore outside hitter Rachel Richardson and senior middle blocker Lizzie Fleming, both of whom recorded 11 kills. The offense fired on all cylinders, coming from those three contributors in particular.
"It’s been fun to see her come along…being effective as a hitter, and then also as a passer for us, and also a defender," Nagel said of Richardson's play. "So it's been exciting to see her game develop and she's doing a great job."
While the Blue Devils fell behind in the first set at first, they eventually went on a 15-3 run to edge out the Phoenix (1-6) 25-16. They were led by Fleming, who was efficient and dominant with five kills and no errors in that first set.
Elon would not be fazed and kept with Duke throughout the second and third sets. The Phoenix engaged in a back and forth in the second set, with Elon taking the edge at first but Duke coming right back to take the lead 20-18. Matters were teetering to the point where the score was tied at 24-24 and eventually Elon took the second set 26-24 with an ace to tie up the match at 1-1.
"I think we had too many unforced errors in that [second] set," Nagel said. "Stuff we can’t afford to have … just gave points away to them at that time."
Nagel told her team before the third and fourth set that they “had to get back on track and play our game and be aggressive and control the first touch better so that we could do more with our offense.”
The game would continue to be competitive heading into the third set, with both teams seeking an advantage. Duke had a strong defense led by Fleming with six blocks and sophomore Nicki Underwood, who led the Blue Devils with 21 digs on the night. It was a hard-fought set, but Duke was able to jump out to a 20-17 lead.
However, Elon took an instrumental timeout and cut Duke's lead to 21-20 at the match's most critical point. Duke stayed together and put together a 4-0 run with kills from different players: Fleming, Richardson and ultimately Johnson to win the set 25-20 and take the 2-1 lead. This gave the Blue Devils the firepower to string together a 7-0 run early in the fourth set and ultimately win the match 3-1.
The win on the road tested Duke’s endurance during a tight schedule, but the Blue Devils' week is not over yet. Duke has two upcoming home matches: Friday against Michigan and Saturday against Michigan State, both at 6:30 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Nagel said that the Blue Devils have “to rest up and recover these next couple of days … to be able to go hard on Friday night.”
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