They had seen it before. They had held the advantage before, only to see it evaporate into a 2-3 meltdown. They had been within three points of winning a match, only to see it slide into oblivion.
And they had suffered that kind of loss from this particular team.
But when Virginia (15-14, 8-8 in the ACC) came to Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday afternoon, Duke (19-11, 8-8) was not about to let that happen again. Not when they were tied 14-14 in the second game, and surely not when they had gone on a 12-2 offensive spurt in the final game, only to see the Cavaliers tie it up again 14-14.
Not this weekend. Not this time.
With ACC championships rapidly approaching next weekend, this was Duke's last chance to send a message to the conference. And it did so in grand order, knocking out Virginia 3-0 after defeating Maryland (13-15, 4-12) the previous evening 3-1.
"I am definitely pleased with how they did," coach Jolene Nagel said. "We didn't seem to have as many lapses as we sometimes had in the past, in terms of an opponent scoring against us. Virginia might have helped us a little bit by making some errors, but I think we did a good job of eliminating our errors."
Taking advantage of some initial sluggishness, the Blue Devils topped the Cavs in the first game 15-4. But Virginia wasn't giving up the next one, nipping at the Blue Devils' heels throughout and pulling to a 14-14 tie with Duke. On a Katie Gilman serve, Duke pulled to 15-14 and claimed the 16-14 win off a Jill Sonne kill.
In the final game, the situation reversed as Virginia took a 6-2 lead, to which the Blue Devils responded with both an offensive surge and a defensive crunch, limiting the Cavaliers to only one more point as Duke proceeded to take a 14-7 lead.
Virginia then responded in kind with its own 7-0 run, as both the players on the court and the bench became increasingly excited with the prospect of pulling to within a game of the Blue Devils.
But it was not to be, not on Saturday. Pamela Gottfred sent one flying right inside the boundary line and Virginia didn't even touch it. Game over, Duke wins.
It was much the same story Friday night against Maryland. Even though the Blue Devils dropped the first game by a lackluster score of 15-3, they won three consecutive games against the Terrapins, never looking back during a relatively easy 3-1 win.
With ACCs right around the corner, finishing with two consecutive wins saved Duke from a losing conference record. None of the ACC teams rank in the top 25, leaving the conference without a clear-cut favorite.
But it is devoid of bottom feeders as well. Duke, for instance, gave N.C. State its only win of the season, yet a week later was able to drag out a match with ACC leader Georgia Tech to five well-fought games, meaning that any momentum and consistency bodes well for the Blue Devils.
"We really wanted to try to do as well as we could this weekend and have that momentum going into the ACC tournament," Nagel said. "We were able to do that so that's great. We leave on Wednesday for the ACCs and we won't play until Friday, so this week we're going to try to take advantage of the time we do have to practice, because once we get there, our practice time will be minimal."
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