When Duke won in Chapel Hill Sept. 30, it was the Blue Devils' first road victory at North Carolina since 1997.
In front of a raucous crowd, Duke never trailed for even a single point in the match, handily beating their rivals 3-0.
Tonight, the Blue Devils (20-3, 13-1 in the ACC) hope to top the Tar Heels (6-17, 4-10) for the second time this season at 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"We're very excited to have the opportunity to play Carolina at home in Cameron," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "We've got to make sure we come out strong on them in the match. Both teams always play really well in these matches, so we're going to get their best."
In the teams' first meeting this year, an auditorium full of energized Carolina fans only added to the already-exciting rivalry matchup.
The atmosphere will not be any less intense tonight when the Tar Heels travel up Tobacco Road to Cameron.
"The crowd was great over in Chapel Hill," Nagel said. "What was really great was that we had a lot of Duke fans come out, too. I expect tomorrow that we're going to have a lot of UNC people there as well."
Before Duke's 3-0 win over N.C. State Wednesday, the Blue Devils split road games in a loss to Georgia Tech and a win over Clemson Oct. 27 and 28, respectively. The pair of games was Duke's second consecutive road trip.
"We've been away for two weekends in a row, so it's great to be back in Cameron," Nagel said. "In order for us to be successful we need to focus."
Duke enters the match at the top of the ACC and has suffered only one conference loss this season. North Carolina, which also lost to Georgia Tech recently, is in 11th place in the ACC.
Well into the second half of their conference schedule-ACC teams play each opponent twice in a round-robin format-the Blue Devils have seven more matches to play after tonight's game against the Tar Heels. But for now, Nagel said Duke is concentrating on winning tonight's match as it tries to hold onto its top spot.
"We have a long way to go yet," Nagel said. "We've got to make sure we're focused on what we need to be focused on and not on what's gotten us where we are."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.