The Blue Devils enjoyed their fall break with three straight wins over Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest to keep their top, undefeated spot in the ACC standings.
Despite the break, a large home crowd still turned out to cheer on the Blue Devils as Duke toppled Virginia (12-5, 5-3 in the ACC), 3-1, and swept Virginia Tech (10-7, 4-4) in Cameron Indoor Stadium this weekend. Traveling to Wake Forest (9-7, 5-2) Tuesday, the Blue Devils bested the Demon Deacons-who were tied for second in the ACC going into the match-in three straight games for the victory.
"We're all really excited and to be able to go in and take opponents out of their game-it's not easy," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "We were really able to execute tonight to have an effect on Wake."
With the victory over the Demon Deacons, Duke (14-2, 7-0) remains as the only team perfect in conference play. Despite high expectations and holding the top spot in the ACC, the Blue Devils said they are remaining focused on improving their game as a team.
"We're Duke-they're already gunning for us-and we're number one, so double-time gunning for us," junior libero Jenny Shull said. "We're really figuring out what our strengths are, and we're building on those, and any weaknesses that we have -which are few-we're picking those up too."
Duke controlled the match against Wake Forest by jumping out to early leads in each of the games. The Demon Deacons were able to battle back in the second game, bringing the score to 22-21 at one point. But the Blue Devils pulled through with a 30-26 victory before blowing out Wake in the third game.
Duke started the weekend strong Friday with a 2-0 game lead over Virginia. When the Cavaliers forced a fourth game, the Duke offense went on a late 12-5 run to capture the fourth game, 30-22, and the match.
Moss sent home nine of her match-high nineteen kills in the fourth game, adding a career-high 25 digs for a double-double. With 57 assists on the night, Hausfeld improved to second on Duke's all-time career assists list, finishing the weekend with 3,666 in her two-plus collegiate seasons.
The Blue Devils kept the momentum going to win three straight games from Virginia Tech Saturday night, each by at least a 10-point margin.
Nagel said the team continues to improve by pushing and competing against each other at practice. Duke's growth and its veteran experience has allowed for the Blue Devils to control the tempo of games.
"We do have some maturity now on our team," Nagel said. "A year ago, I don't know if that would have been the case, and we'd be able to always win those games. But this year, we've been able to go back-and-forth with teams, even be down on a few teams, and still be able to come back."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.