Even though Krista Dill was playing her first collegiate volleyball matches, you never would have known it by her performance this weekend.
Dill, who came to the Blue Devils as an All-American pick in high school, proved that all the hype was true, that she could fill a gaping hole at middle blocker, that she would be a consistent presence on the team from the start as she soared to lead the Blue Devils with 40 kills in four matches this weekend at the South Carolina Invitational.
"She realy did great this weekend," Duke coach Jolene Nagel said of the Newport Beach, Calif. native. "She had an impressive weekend as a middle blocker. She really adds a nice, new dimension to this team out there."
Duke (2-2) split its matches in Columbia, S.C. this weekend, starting Friday morning with a 3-0 win against Xavier only to follow with a 3-0 loss to host South Carolina-a match plagued with a number of service and reception errors.
"I was really pleased with [the win], because Xavier is a pretty respectable team," Nagel said. "They are in the Atlantic 10 conference and they finished third in their confernece last year, so they did pretty well. We really had no problem with them whatsoever."
In the tournament's second day, Duke likewise split its matches, with a 3-0 win against Liberty and a competitive 3-1 loss to Texas Tech.
In the final match, Duke lost the first game 15-7 after the Raiders took an 8-0 lead to start the game.
"I think the problem [was] that we were nervous," Nagel said. "The team very much wants to do well. They had a few question marks in their head as to how well we could actually be and I think they didn't realize we could do very well against that team. When the team finally started to score some points, the team understood we could play with this team, eliminate our errors and do very well. The second half of that game was nothing like the first half."
And the second game was nothing like the first game. The Blue Devils gained the edge and took the next game 15-12 in a marathon session of 37 minutes. In that game, Duke junior Bryn Gallagher tallied nine kills, five digs and two blocks, a performance which helped her earn All-Tournament honors.
Duke fell behind 8-0 once again in the third game, but pulled to a 13-13 tie with Texas Tech. The Raiders took advantage of a Duke error at the end to win the game, giving them a 2-1 edge on the match.
"We dug ourselves quite a hole," Nagel said. "Then we finally started to play well, but made a couple erros and that was the difference."
Duke gained an offensive edge in the fourth game, leading once by seven points, bur errors again dragged the team down, and it fell 13-15 to give the match to the Raiders. However, the Blue Devils' tenacity caught even Texas Tech off guard.
"We thought we might run away with Duke but they really played hard and gave us a great match," Raiders coach Jeff Nelson said. "I am extremely pleased to get the win no matter how it came."
Overall, however, Nagel was satisfied with the 2-2 split, with the consistency of veterans like Ashley Harris and Jill Sonne, along with newer standouts like Gallagher and Dill. Despite offensive errors, Nagel was impressed with the solid defense.
"We dug 100 balls," she said. "That's a lot of digs. Our team was playing some very good defense. If you look at last year, I don't think that's something you would have considered one of our strengths.
"We're 2-2 for the weekend, which is OK, but more importantly, what we've learned as a team is tremendous."
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