Last year’s volleyball team finished third in the ACC with a 20-10 record. The Blue Devils ranked 38th in the final Ratings Percentage Index and they advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament before losing to eventual champion Maryland. Despite their impressive credentials, they did not receive an invitation to the NCAA Tournament.
So, volleyball coach Jolene Nagel, were you upset about that?
“That’s an understatement. We talked about that the first day and I think that’s going to be an underlying theme for us throughout the season,” Nagel said. “I think we’re really going to use that to help motivate us—how awful we felt learning that news so we don’t have to feel it again.
“There were teams in the 90s and the 80s RPI-wise that were deep in their conferences that got into the NCAAs. The sixth team in a conference had a 90-some RPI and they got in, so we’re really kind of a team with a chip on our shoulder.”
Providing even more motivation for the Blue Devils is their top ranking in the preseason ACC coaches’ poll. Duke was picked to finish ninth in the conference in last year’s preseason poll and used the snub as an inspiration to work harder. This year, Nagel says that high preseason expectations will push the team to prove itself worthy every match.
“It doesn’t mean anything to be preseason No. 1,” setter Ali Hausfeld said. “We want to be at the top of the league and we should be consistently ranked this high in the preseason.”
One of the major differences between this season and last is a new ACC schedule. The conference tournament has been dropped in favor of a double round-robin format that has each team playing 22 conference games—a home game and an away game against each ACC opponent.
For Duke, which likely lost its NCAA Tournament bid when it failed to beat Maryland in the conference semifinals, the change is a welcome one.
“Last year when Maryland won [the conference tournament], I feel like we deserved to be in the NCAA tournament more than they did but they got our bid because they won,” middle blocker Samatha Fisher said. “It puts more importance on every ACC match. You have to get it done in the regular season; there’s no second chance this year.”
The Blue Devils were a young team last year and return most of their contributors from last season, including three of four All-ACC honorees.
Hausfeld, who earned East Region Freshman of the Year honors last season, runs the Blue Devil offense. Her 13.3 assists per game last season was the third-best mark in program history and was 17th in the nation.
Hausfeld’s assists often came on kills by outside hitter Tealle Hunkus and middle blocker Carrie DeMange. Hunkus, a junior, is coming off second-team All-ACC honors and DeMange was named to last year’s ACC All-Freshman team. DeMange’s 411 kills led the team last year and Hunkus finished with 343.
Hunkus, DeMange and Hausfeld were preseason All-ACC selections.
In the back, the team will have to replace the defense of departed libero Stephanie Istvan, who holds Duke records in digs in a season (574) and digs per game (5.9). Sophomore Jenny Shull will be counted on to help replace Istvan.
“We had such a young team last year with a lot of freshmen,” Fisher said. “Now they have that whole year of experience under their belts and that makes a huge difference.”
The returning players will be joined by another talented recruiting class. Middle blocker Jourdana Norman and outside hitter Aana Wherry were both top-50 recruits, and middle blocker Susanna Carls helped lead her team to the national club volleyball championship.
Even with all the talent in place, the Blue Devils know that it will be hard work to fulfill their preseason expectations in the always-tough ACC. But it’s work they are certainly willing to undertake.
“We’re really ready to prove that we deserve to be number one in the ACC,” DeMange said.
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