After stealing victory from the jaws of defeat against Miami, the Blue Devils' only hope for keeping their ACC championship hopes alive was an upset at No. 6 North Carolina.
But for the second time in as many matchups this year against the Tar Heels, Duke could not sustain its early momentum.
Even after winning a tight first set, the Blue Devils could not stop North Carolina, falling 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-13 25-20) Wednesday afternoon at Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill. Although senior defensive specialist Sasha Karelov posted 28 digs to become the third player in team history to reach 2,000 in her career, Duke struggled to get its offense going, finishing with 24 attack errors and a hitting percentage of .165.
The Tar Heels' victory gave them the ACC championship and means the Blue Devils will finish the regular season without a win against a ranked team.
“It’s about maintaining a high level throughout the entire match,” Duke head coach Jolene Nagel said. “We wavered a bit in that. But when you play against a good opponent they force you to do that. They’ve got a physical and experienced team on that court.”
As they have in most matches this season, the Blue Devils (21-8, 15-4 in the ACC) came out strong in a back-and-forth first set. Senior middle blocker Jordan Tucker led the way with six of her 17 kills, backed up by an active Blue Devil defense that posted 25 digs—nine of which came from Karelov.
Duke and North Carolina (26-3, 18-1) traded kills throughout the frame, leading to 11 ties in the set. However, kills from sophomore middle blocker Leah Meyer and freshman outside hitter Samantha Amos allowed Duke to break through and build 20-17 lead. The Blue Devils maintained the edge and a Tucker kill followed by a Tar Heel service error gave the visiting team the first frame 25-22.
Unfortunately for Duke, the Blue Devils were not able to continue that same efficiency for the rest of the match.
The second set also started close, with junior Cadie Bates putting down two kills to tie it 4-4 early on. Although Duke was able to tie up the set at 13, a 3-0 run by North Carolina led by redshirt sophomore Taylor Leath and redshirt senior Taylor Treacy pushed the Tar Heels ahead for the rest of the frame.
North Carolina's offense found its rhythm, in the set, posting a .394 hitting percentage to close the set on an 8-1 run and even the match.
“Our defense hung in there,” Nagel said. “We need to keep that going and offensively put some more balls away.”
In the third set, Duke started with a fast lead 6-1, but the Blue Devils' only consistency could be found in errors. A Tar Heel 6-0 run removed Duke’s lead for the set, and 11 Blue Devil errors removed any hope of Duke catching up.
The Blue Devils had a negative hitting percentage in the set, falling behind 2-1 after dropping the third 25-13.
Riding the momentum of its previous two sets, North Carolina started the fourth with a 7-4 lead. Although the Tar Heels held a lead for the entire set, Duke repeatedly came close to breaking through.
A 3-0 run followed by back-to-back Tucker kills cut the deficit to 17-15, but North Carolina responded quickly to bring the score to 19-17. Karelov managed to keep the Blue Devils competitive by totaling at least 20 digs for the 15th time this season before the Tar Heels closed out the match with a 5-2 run sparked by two service aces.
With Duke’s ACC title hopes dashed, the Blue Devils will travel to Raleigh for a Saturday date with N.C. State at 2 p.m at Reynolds Coliseum.
Duke likely needs to knock off the Wolfpack (19-12, 12-7) to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive.
“We gave it what we had and we need to catch our breath,” Nagel said. “[N.C. State] is a good team and they’re having a good year. We need to be able to look at our own play, find out where we can be better, and have a great practice on Friday so we can bring home that win on Saturday.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.