This weekend in Cameron Indoor Stadium, the No. 24 Blue Devils will be honoring one of the most decorated senior classes in school history while clashing with two of its biggest rivals.
Duke (20-6, 15-3 in the ACC) looks to get back on track in conference play Friday and Saturday against North Carolina (15-13, 11-8) and N.C. State (3-25, 0-18), respectively. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m.
The matches this weekend will be the final home appearances for seniors Ali Hausfeld, Jenny Shull, Carrie DeMange and Shelley Capito. The quartet has helped turn the Blue Devils from a conference also-ran into an ACC powerhouse and a fixture in the national rankings.
"These seniors have made huge contributions to the program, have gotten their names in the ACC record books and have helped our team to its highest national ranking in volleyball history here at Duke," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "They have been an integral part of this program since they stepped foot on this campus, and we want to make this a very special weekend for them."
In a departure from the norm for this crop of seniors, the team will not enter this weekend's contests atop the conference standings. After dropping two straight matches on the road to Georgia Tech and ACC leader Clemson, Duke now sits in second place in the conference, two games behind the Tigers.
The Blue Devils will need to forget those matches before Friday, as the Tar Heels travel to Durham playing their best volleyball of the season. UNC has won six straight ACC contests, and the Tar Heels dropped a close 3-2 match Oct. 7 to the Blue Devils in Chapel Hill. Duke will need to improve its defense and blocking, areas both Nagel and Capito pointed to as weaknesses last weekend, to earn the win.
"UNC is obviously always a very emotionally charged match," Capito said. "We know them very well and they have been playing very strongly in the last few games, so we can't be surprised when they come out playing really strong,"
N.C. State meanwhile, has been moving in the opposite direction. The Wolfpack has yet to force an ACC opponent to a fifth game all year and sits winless at the bottom of the conference standings.
These two rivalry matches are certainly important going into the postseason, but the weekend will be all about the senior class. Hausfeld, DeMange, Shull and Capito have set several ACC and school records in ensuring their place in Duke volleyball history.
"I'm not trying to lose sight of the games that are actually going on, but it is hard to not think about our last few games in Cameron," Capito said. "Hopefully we'll be able to block that out and get two more wins."
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