The women’s volleyball team (1-2) will look to improve on a competitive start to its season tonight when it travels to Campbell to take on the Camels (1-2) at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils, who are relying on freshmen in key positions, are trying to gel as they become more familiar with the sets.
Despite losing its first two games of the Loyola Marymount Classic this past weekend, Duke’s performance left the coaches excited about the season.
“We played some very good teams at this tournament,” head coach Jolene Nagel said Monday. “It was our first chance to compete as a team, and I’m just really encouraged by what I saw and by how we handled ourselves when we were in tight situations.”
Campbell has not faced Duke since 2002, and Nagel said she is not very familiar with the Camels. Coming off their first week of games, the campbell competed in the N.C. A&T Aggie Classic, where they lost to Navy and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and defeated Savannah State.
Duke will not focus on adapting to Campbell’s style and will instead focus on improving its own areas of weakness exposed this past weekend in California.
“We don’t know a lot about Campbell. They had a good showing... they played the teams [they lost to] very tight,” Nagel said. “We need to work on our blocking. That’s what we’ll focus on this week.”
Duke is led on offense by senior Tassy Rufai and freshmen Carrie DeMange and Ali Hausfeld. Sophomores Tabitha Turner and Sarah Dillon, both named to the A&T Aggie Classic All-Tournament team, are the catalysts for the Camels.
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