Head volleyball coach Jolene Nagel told her dominant Blue Devils they had to stay steady this weekend. The team complied, and once again proved their strength in the ACC with back-to-back shutouts this weekend against Clemson (13-10, 4-4) and Florida State (13-7, 4-3 in the ACC).
Despite the lopsided scores of 3-0, however, each game was hard fought and fiercely competitive. The Blue Devil's consistent aggressiveness made way for victory, putting them on a winning streak of four.
"I'm really excited we were able to do well this past week and get off to a great beginning of the second half of our conference," Nagel said.
Duke (18-6, 6-3) executed Sunday, hitting a barrage of down-the-line shots at defenseless Clemson players that were unable to recover. Gilman led the Blue Devil's offense with 12 kills--23 for the weekend--and defense with 13 digs.
In the first game, Gilman drove two kills down the line to the back corner to bring Duke up 12-10 and broke down the strong Clemson defense.
"We're getting better each game and we want to keep getting better so we have to keep going after it," she said.
The Tigers definitely came out to play yesterday, opening the game with hard attacks in Duke's defensive seams. Clemson's middle hitter, Lori Ashton, dominated offensively with consecutive kills.
However, the Blue Devils always-reliable defense allowed the team enough time to find their own power groove and still keep the two scores within points of each other. After powerful middle attacks by Dill and Gilman, the Clemson offense was shut down and Duke pulled away winning the first game 30-23.
The rest of the match followed in a similar fashion. By the last game, the upperhand in power had shifted to Duke's side of the court. In two different contests at the net, Dill pushed the ball past the hands of Clemson's middle blocker to win the point.
Saturday night, Duke and FSU played a tight game with close scores and small breakaways.
Krista Dill, who finished the weekend with nine blocks and 20 kills, stepped up on both offense and defense. She shut down the Seminole's front line dominated by an imposing and powerful outside hitter, Alex Sevillano on FSU. Duke capitalized on these small ruts, giving the Blue Devils breathing room for victory.
"Our team executed well so we could force them to have to take us out," Katie Gilman said, who had an amazing weekend all-around. Jill Sonne agreed.
"We've taken huge strides as a team," she said. "We've really come together and learned to play as a team."
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