Over the long weekend Duke managed to take down Virginia’s top two schools to extend its dominance over the ACC.
The Blue Devils (15-2, 5-0 in the ACC) swept Virginia (6-10, 1-4) Friday night and followed up the performance with a comeback win over Virginia Tech (11-5, 1-4) Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
In Friday’s match the Blue Devils used defense to take down the weaker Cavaliers. Highlights included the play of sophomore Kellie Catanach, who had an impressive 40 assists and seven kills, and freshman Christiana Gray, who contributed two blocks and nine kills of her own.
The team managed to set a season high for digs in a three-set match with 58 and played exceptionally consistent ball.
Saturday proved to be a slightly tougher match as the Hokies came out of the gate strong. Taking the first game and a commanding lead in the second, Virginia Tech looked to be in solid control of the match. However, things drastically changed when senior Rachael Moss stepped to the service line down 14-10. Going on a streak of six service points, including four aces, Moss managed to use her overpowering serve to rally the Blue Devils to a comeback win in the game.
The momentum carried them and they took the following two sets with relative ease, extending the Blue Devils’ ACC winning streak to seven games dating back to last year.
Head coach Jolene Nagel was pleased with her team’s resilience in its comeback win Saturday.
“I was happy the way we made some adjustments after game one and started to execute better,” Nagel said. “And I was pleased with the effort and team togetherness from everybody.”
Junior Becci Burling, who also contributed with a great game Saturday highlighted by 13 kills, said the team just calmed down and came together to pull out the win.
“We relaxed more as a team and really came together because when we play as a team we can really beat other teams…. All we really needed was to relax and be a little more confident in ourselves and in our skills.”
While the impressive play of the team allowed the Blue Devils to dominate this weekend, Moss’s play was especially noteworthy. She led the team in kills both Friday and Saturday night, racking up a total of 28 between the two games, and led the team with her four aces Saturday.
The only returning All-ACC selection from a year ago, Moss added another accomplishment to her résumé by being named the ACC Player of the Week last week. The Blue Devils are turning to her strong senior leadership, and she is certainly not letting them down.
Duke will play another jam-packed weekend at Cameron this Friday and Saturday as the Blue Devils take on Miami and Florida State, respectively. Saturday night will be an especially important match as the Seminoles are currently the second-best team in the ACC.
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