It is a frequent theme in collegiate athletics: a star player graduates and her team is left scrambling to replace her during the off season and the beginning of the next year.
So when libero Stephanie Istvan graduated at the end of last year-taking a first-team all-ACC selection and Duke's single-season dig record with her-it would have seemed natural for volleyball coach Jolene Nagel to worry. But sophomore Jenny Shull, who backed up Istvan last year, has helped to assuage her fears.
"Obviously it's a little scary because Stephanie was a huge leader and there were a lot of special things about her," Nagel said. "[But] I knew our defense would be in good hands with Jenny anchoring it."
Shull has validated Nagel's faith in her abilities. The sophomore from Downey, Calif. has played well enough to earn a spot on the all-tournament team in two of Duke's three early-season tournaments. She leads the team in digs with 155, an average of five per game, and has only made one ball handling error all season. Her 10 service aces are second on the team.
"Knowing that I was the person coming in just gave me more confidence-you're going to be it next year, you're ready, you're prepared," Shull said.
And though Nagel was not expecting Shull to be able to replace Istvan's leadership, other Blue Devil players say that Shull has been able to help in that area as well.
"She is a great leader," outside hitter Tealle Hunkus said. "She has great energy on the court, we all try to feed into that."
A lot of the team's early success-Duke's record stands at 6-2 as the team enters ACC play-is the result of Shull's play. Though middle blocker Carrie DeMange has been the most recognized Blue Devil, having won back-to-back ACC Player of the Week Awards, Nagel said those honors can also be credited to the play of the entire team.
As libero, Shull has a hand in almost every aspect of Duke's defense. She is expected to receive services, play steady defense on easy plays and make the occasional spectacular play. And while front-line players like DeMange, Hunkus and senior Sam Fisher get the glory of the kill, Shull's defensive contributions are often more understated.
"Jenny has to get all the floor burns and work really hard, and the recognition often goes to the hitter," Nagel said. "The setter and the hitter couldn't do anything without the libero setting them up. If we didn't have [Shull] we wouldn't be in the position we're in right now."
Shull willingly does the defensive dirty work, even though she played outside hitter in high school and still loves to score points.
"Our team gets fired up because I'm not supposed to be making kills. I get one or two maybe a game if I'm lucky," Shull said. "But also, a hard driven ball that should be down and you barely get a hand on it, it builds our team momentum a lot."
Nagel is careful not to compare Shull and Istvan, saying the two are wholly different players. Istvan came to Duke as a setter and moved to libero before her junior year when the Blue Devils needed more consistency on defense.
Shull came to Duke as a libero and started 17 of 30 matches her freshman year as a defensive specialist. She credits Istvan, a captain of last year's team with easing her transition into the college game.
"[Istvan taught me] just to go all out, every game, no matter what," Shull said. "Knowing that I had to play at her level or even surpass that-that was my goal."
Though the sometimes-overshadowed anchor of Duke's defense has earned recognition in the early part of the season, she has not let the compliments affect her.
"[Ali Hausfeld] and I got all tournament honors the first tournament," Shull said of the Rice Invitational. "We were walking down the steps, and she was like 'Hey Jenny, you got all-tournament,' and I was like, 'Oh, my God!'...It was definitely a proud moment for me."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.