After losing to Rice at the Crowne Plaza Rice Invitational last weekend in Houston, volleyball coach Jolene Nagel implored the Blue Devils to improve their defense. Duke (2-1) was better in that area in the team’s next game at the Rice Invitational, a sweep over Sacramento State, but Nagel is still not satisfied.
“We missed a few defensive assignments and blocking assignments,” Nagel said. “We’ve worked on that a lot in practice this week. We’ve seen a lot of video so we can see where we’re cheating when we shouldn’t be, both for blocking and backcourt defense.”
The Blue Devils will attempt to show off the work they put in this week during their three matches this weekend at the Duke Invitational. They kick off the weekend against Southern Methodist, tonight at 7 p.m. and play both Charlotte and Cornell on Sept. 10.
Much of the work Duke has done at practice has been part of an effort to avoid missed defensive assignments that have translated into easy kills for opponents.
“Coach really wants to improve our blocking and defense,” setter Ali Hausfeld said. “Blocking is what she’s really worked most on with us, and playing around the block when the block isn’t there.”
In the matches last weekend, opponents frequently set the ball to the outside and then directed their kill attempts down the lines, a maneuver the Blue Devils had trouble stopping. Libero Jenny Shull said that the team also worked on rotating to dig those would-be-kills and bring the ball back toward the middle of the court.
“Last weekend the coaches got a chance to see what we need to work on,” Shull said. “So practices have definitely been based more on specific drills and individual things we need to work on.”
The coach cited communication as another area the team needed to improve, both on offense and defense.
Against Southern Methodist (4-2), a big team that blocks well with only three players shorter than 5-foot-11, Nagel said the Blue Devils’ offensive communication would be of vital importance.
“We’re not going to just go up and whale on the ball,” Nagel said, explaining that the Mustang blockers were too good for that strategy to work. “We need to be smart and talk to our hitters so we know what’s open for us. Our backcourt people can look and talk to our hitters; we can’t play blindly.”
In Saturday’s 10 a.m. match against Charlotte (0-6), Nagel said Duke’s defensive communication will be the key.
“They’re a very powerful athletic team,” Nagel said. “Their hitters are powerful and if we do not set our block we’ll be in trouble.”
Duke plays Cornell (0-0) Saturday at 7 p.m. to close out the weekend. Nagel’s first head coaching job was at the helm of the Big Red. She spent four years there and won an Ivy League title in her final season.
The Blue Devils know little about Cornell, as the Ivy League forbids its members from competing before this weekend, but the Big Red returns all six starters from last year’s league championship team.
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