Playing its first match in Cameron Indoor Stadium since Oct. 4, the volleyball team gave the home fans a reason to cheer.
Duke took the first two games from Florida State, but the pesky and resilient Seminoles rallied to tie the third game at 28 and controlled service. But Seminole Kristen Rust's serve hit the net, and a Florida State setting error on the next play gave the Blue Devils the sweep, 3-0.
Duke (12-6, 6-4 in the ACC) controlled the match almost from the start, taking advantage of several Florida State hitting errors to go on a 7-0 run to build a 17-10 lead in the first game. The Blue Devils would eventually push their advantage to 28-15.
But with the Blue Devils on the verge of a first-game victory, the Seminoles (5-13, 3-7) reeled off six straight points, and Duke head coach Jolene Nagel called a timeout.
"I felt like we were just starting to break down a little bit with our block," Nagel said. "We weren't closing our block, so I said let's just stay disciplined with our blocking scheme and make sure we get stops."
The Blue Devils took the next two points on kills by outside hitter Tealle Hunkus and middle blocker Jourdan Norman to win the first game, 30-21.
Duke maintained a comfortable advantage through most of the second game. The team took a lead it would not relinquish with a 5-1 run that made the score 15-10. A kill by Norman after a diving dig by outside hitter Sarah Salem started the run. The Seminoles pulled to within three points at 19-16, but Duke scored the next three to stop the threat. Florida State would not challenge the Blue Devil lead again, and Duke won the second game, 30-23.
In the third game, Duke was less able to get into an offensive rhythm, Nagel said, as Florida State improved its blocking. The Blue Devils fell behind early and did not take their first lead until a a block by Norman and setter Ali Hausfeld gave them a 25-24 advantage.
"We weren't controlling the ball as well off the services in game three, so that probably contributed to their ability to block us a little bit better," Nagel said. "We just had too many errors, and a lot of those came from them blocking us."
After the Blue Devils' 3-0 loss to Maryland Oct. 16, Nagel challenged her team to play with more defensive focus against Florida State.
"We were very disciplined tonight," Hunkus said. "Before the match, Coach gave us a couple goals, and one was to be disciplined-be tough on defense, get our blocks set up, the stuff we worked on all week. So I think we did that well."
Duke finished with 13 blocks, seven more than it had against the Terrapins, and 66 digs, 16 more than in the Maryland match.
"Our right-side blockers did a good job of timing and setting their block," Nagel said. "I thought our left side did a good job of setting the block the way we wanted to and touching a lot of balls."
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