When the Blue Devil defense blocked Wolfpack star Laura Kimbrell's tip attempt at Cameron Indoor Stadium Friday night, the volleyball team achieved something it had not for 21 agonizing days: a win.
Duke (7-12, 2-6 in the ACC) swept N.C. State in three games to avoid falling into last place in the ACC, the undesired residence of the cellar-dwelling Wolfpack (10-9, 0-7). Halfway through conference play, Duke is looking to turn its season around.
"We are in a great situation," coach Linda Grensing said. "We reassess our goals. We are right back in the second part of the ACC. We have a new set of goals, and we are a lot better team than we were when we started the first part of ACC. So we go back at it real hard and see if we can hit our goals in the second part of the ACC."
According to Grensing, one of the things that Duke improved on against the Wolfpack was making good decisions, especially by its hitters.
The Blue Devils made only six errors on 125 kill attempts during the three-game, 15-4, 15-13, 15-6 triumph over N.C. State. Outside hitter Sarah Peifer led the attack for the Blue Devils with 18 kills against only two errors.
Duke trailed 7-4 early in the second game, but the Blue Devils mounted a rally behind the serving of Jami Ediger. They ran off four consecutive points on Ediger's serve before the Wolfpack could side out, and Peifer slammed home a kill on Duke's next serving opportunity to take a 9-7 lead.
The Blue Devils eventually reached game point, 14-10, and seemingly had the game in hand on Nina Rybak's serve. But N.C. State retaliated with a ferocious rally to close to 14-13 before Grensing called a timeout to settle down her flustered players and remind them of a consistency drill they had practiced all week.
"We already had one error on the table, and we needed to make sure that the next hitter put the ball in play," Grensing explained to her team during the timeout. "N.C. State was so erratic that the chances were they were going to make an error. That's what we needed for us to use at that point for us to win."
The timeout worked, as Duke stopped the Wolfpack rally with a sideout. After three more sideouts by each team, Ashley Harris served and N.C. State committed the error Grensing predicted. Duke claimed a commanding two-games-to-none lead as an attempted Wolfpack kill fell helplessly into the net.
The Blue Devils once again fell behind quickly, 2-0, on two poor exchanges in game three. Leading 5-4, though, Duke ran off six straight points on Harris' serve. The Wolfpack closed to 11-6, but Duke ran off the final four points, highlighted by two blocks, to end the match.
The team's winning ways seemed to have a 24-hour curse, as the Fighting Irish swept the Blue Devils in a three-game match Saturday evening at Cameron. Notre Dame (7-8) won three extremely competitive games by scores of 15-11, 15-12 and 15-12.
Duke fought hard in all three games, but mental errors early on put it far behind in all three contests. The turning point of the match came in the first game with Duke leading 10-7.
Marcie Bomhack prevented Duke from running away with the match, with a kill to regain serve possession. After a Notre Dame point and two more sideouts, Bomhack led the team to four straight points on her serve. The Irish never yielded the momentum, closing the game out on an errant kill attempt by Ediger.
In the final two games, Duke dug itself 14-10 deficits before clawing back to within two points, but each time, the comeback fell short. Despite the loss, Grensing asserts that her team is now playing well but crossed paths with an underrated, talented Notre Dame squad.
"Notre Dame is a good team that was ranked in the top 20 in the beginning of the season," Grensing said after the loss Saturday. "They certainly have the talent to be there. "
Duke resumes ACC play tomorrow night in Cameron against Clemson. The Blue Devils will probably be without outside hitter Megan Irvine, who suffered an ankle injury that put her on crutches.
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