After losing 3-1 to No. 17 Colorado State Friday night, Duke rebounded with a comeback 3-2 win at Colorado the next day in the Coors Rocky Mountain Challenge.
The Blue Devils (1-1) were stymied by the Rams’ stout defense, which held them to a .051 hitting percentage over the first two sets of the match.
“Colorado State is a really good team and they’re ranked for a reason,” head coach Jolene Nagel said. “They’re a very big and physical team, and they control the ball very well. They work very well as a team out there together.”
Duke came back from an 0-2 hole to take the third set, in part because the players became more acclimated to the situation. Since volleyball teams are prohibited from conducting intersquad scrimmages with other schools, this was the first live action the Blue Devils had seen all year. Combined with a crowd of more than 6,300 decked out in all white attire and a change in altitude, the transition to competitive games required some adjustment on Duke’s part.
But the adjustment came too late. Colorado State (2-0) sealed the match with another stellar defensive effort in the fourth set, winning 25-21. For the night, Duke’s hitting percentage was .093 in the sets it lost compared to .385 in the set it won.
The pattern of offensive performance dictating results continued Saturday night against Colorado. In the Blue Devils’ five-set victory, they posted a .084 hitting percentage in sets they lost while putting up a .318 clip in the sets they won.
“We did play a little inconsistently this weekend,” Nagel said. “But it’s nothing that I’m overly concerned about or anything. It’s just us maybe being a little tight and wanting to succeed. When you serve better and you control the ball a little bit better that helps the offense.”
Against Colorado (1-1), Duke was able to have more sustained offensive success because of an outstanding performance from its middle blocking crew. Senior middle blocker Becci Burling, a Colorado native, led the group with 18 kills—tying a career-high—while junior Amanda Robertson posted nine kills without an error, and sophomore Christiana Gray added 10 kills of her own. Although the offense did hit some snags and had to rally from a 2-1 deficit, Nagel thought that the team managed to be more consistent in the final two sets of the victory.
Duke returned home for the start of classes Monday and will face Campbell University in its next game Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
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