The volleyball team is on the rise.
On the rise from a regular season ACC Championship. On the rise from two consecutive 20-win seasons, including a 23-5 record last season. On the rise from advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994.
Consequently, there is a great deal of excitement surrounding the 2002 incarnation of the Blue Devils, which is already off to a 4-0 start.
Duke swept its way through their first tournament of the year, winning the Loyola Marymount Invitational in Los Angeles. It rolled over Oklahoma, Bradley and Loyola Marymount in the minimum total of nine games. Led by senior tri-captains Jill Sonne, Rachel Vander Griend and Josie Weymann, Duke received contributions from the entire team.
"It really was a strong team effort," said head coach Jolene Nagel, adding that one of the team's fortes was the depth and quality of its bench.
The tournament also had individual shining moments, however, as Sonne was awarded the LMU tournament Most Valuable Player. Additionally, Vander Griend and junior Krista Dill joined Sonne on the all-tournament team. While this combination of star players and overall depth may bode well for the Blue Devils' season, Duke is not taking a nonchalant attitude.
"We know we have a tough season in front of us," said junior outside hitter Tassy Rufai. "We just want to improve each game, each match, play together, and have team cohesion."
To do so, the team has set a series of expectations for themselves.
"We have a lot of small goals, like respecting every opponent and playing up to our level against every opponent," added Nagel. "We hope [that together these small goals] will get us to our ultimate goals at the end of the season, which are to win the ACC championship and go to the NCAA tournament."
In the first match of the year at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke took a strong step toward those goals by dominating High Point. Again the team played cohesively, accumulating a .423 hitting percentage, 14 service aces, two block solos and 11 block assists.
Freshman Sarah Salem emerged to lead the team with 12 kills, and hit .611 for the match. Tiffany Perry, another freshman, led all competitors with a .857 hitting percentage, while Sonne hit .714. Sophomore Stephanie Istvan led both teams with 23 assists and 10 digs.
In this match, the Blue Devils demonstrated some of their strengths, blending youth with experience to dominate their competition.
The volleyball team's return to prominence may be mostly attributed to Nagel, the 2001 ACC coach of the year. Entering her fourth year at Duke since leaving Georgetown University, she has already led the Blue Devils to two NCAA tournament berths, and every year has exceeded the preseason expectations placed upon her team.
Now, however, Nagel is focused solely upon bringing Duke up to the level of her college career. As a collegiate star and member of the hall of fame at Edinboro College, Nagel was captain for two years, and led her teams to a 116-43 record and three national championship appearances.
"I would like to see us improve as a team each time we go out to play. We're really excited about the season," she said. "We're excited about the challenges we're going to face, but we're also excited about what we feel the team is capable of."
This weekend, Duke travels to Pennsylvania for the Pittsburgh Classic, where they will face Pittsburgh, Bowling Green and Indiana State on Friday and Saturday.
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