For the second year in a row, the Duke volleyball team (24-9) made it into the semifinals of the ACC tournament only to be silenced in a hard fought game a step short of taking the championship.
After defeating Maryland (18-14) Friday night at Keefe Gymnasium in Atlanta, Ga., the Blue Devils fell in four games to No. 20 Georgia Tech (30-5), which eventually went on to win the championship.
"We're disappointed with the outcome but we have continued to get better as a team throughout the season," head coach Jolene Nagel said, looking ahead with her squad for an opportunity to play in the NCAA championships next week.
Duke started off the weekend showing just how much they have improved. The Blue Devils dominated all three games in Friday night's game against the Terrapins, winning 30-28, 30-22, and 30-22. Senior Josie Weymann led the team with 21 digs, eight of which were in Game 1. In the second and third games, Duke's offense matched their defense, led by freshman Sarah Salem who finished the match with 10 kills.
"We did a good job maintaining our intensity throughout the match," Nagel said, who had been wary about the team's consistency in their last match-up against Maryland.
Friday night's win took the Blue Devils to the semifinal match against Georgia Tech, which entered the tournament ranked second. Although Duke fell to Georgia in three games, the Yellow Jackets had a hard time pulling out a victory. The first game was pushed to 33-31. Duke even dominated Game 3, winning with the greatest point spread (30-17) out of the four games. But, in the end, the Yellow Jackets' power hitter, Lynette Moster, led her team's offense to a dominating position and pulled out a win in a deciding fourth game to complete a 33-31, 30-26, 17-30, 30-20 victory.
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