For the second consecutive year, the Blue Devils will start their season on top.
According to the ACC volleyball preseason poll released Aug. 8, Duke was ranked as the No. 1 team in the conference heading into the 2006 season.
The Blue Devils received eight first place votes from the ACC's 12 head coaches. Virginia followed with three first place votes to rank second in the preseason poll, and Georgia Tech rounded out the top three with one first place vote.
Duke, however, knows the dangers of listening to the hype too much.
"A team might be picked eighth or ninth in the league we're playing this weekend," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "But if we don't bring our 'A game,' we're done. That's going to come back to haunt us down the road. And I think they've lived it. So, they see it."
Last season, Duke also entered the year ranked No. 1 in the ACC preseason poll. The Blue Devils, however, dropped several matches early-on before they picked up steam in the later part of the season.
Duke finished the regular season on an eight-match winning streak to make postseason play, even though it did not receive the ACC's automatic bid. The Blue Devils advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament before losing to runner-up Nebraska.
With a 17-5 record in the ACC (24-8 overall), Duke ended one win short of a three-way tie for first in the ACC with North Carolina and Maryland and instead, finished third. Because the ACC title was so close last year, Duke can once again use the No. 1 preseason ranking as motivation.
"Being picked No. 1 in the preseason poll is always hard because every team is out to get you," junior Carrie DeMange said. "But I feel like it's a challenge for our team. It'll be good for us. It'll be something to live up to... because we couldn't do it last year."
Duke returns 11 players, including middle blocker Demange, setter Ali Hausfeld and libero Jenny Shull. The trio of juniors were named to the preseason All-ACC team last week and are All-American candidates this year. Last season, all three earned AVCA All-America honorable mentions and All-East Region honors. DeMange and Hausfeld also garnered spots on last year's All-ACC first team.
Duke also returns veterans Jourdan Norman, Pixie Levanas and Sue Carls in the middle, and Tealle Hunkus and Aana Wherry on the outside.
Head coach Jolene Nagel said she is excited about the upcoming season, and last year's experience will give her team an advantage.
"We were relatively young [last year], and this year we have that experience behind us," Nagel said. "So, I think that's going to make a difference to us. And hopefully, our upperclassman can teach that to our younger players."
The talented freshman group of Rachael Moss, Brittany Staffeil, Juliana Traut and Christina Falcone will don Duke uniforms for the first time this season and have a chance to learn from a matured, skilled squad. Moss, Staffeil and Traut will train as outside hitters, while fellow freshman Falcone will work as a setter.
"Our upperclassman worked very hard last spring," Nagel said. "I think we made a lot of progress as a team. And we're going to see the benefits of that this fall. But I also think the new freshmen coming in are going to complement a lot of what we've worked on, which is a wonderful place to be."
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