After sweeping through the Blue Raider Bash by winning three matches in two days against Middle Tennessee State, Auburn and Georgia Southern, Duke is feeling the lingering effects of its accomplishments.
And tonight, after just two days of rest, the Blue Devils (5-1) compete again, facing a new challenger in the 49ers (4-2).
“The team worked very hard this weekend,” head coach Jolene Nagel said. “They had three matches, they were very tired—we did practice [Monday morning], but we didn’t do a whole lot. They’re still recovering from the weekend.”
While Charlotte is only about two hours away, its Atlantic-10 affiliation makes it an out-of-region opponent—which Nagel believes will give Duke a good chance to boost its NCAA résumé.
This game is also the last chance for the Blue Devils to tune up before the Duke Invitational Tournament this weekend, which includes a match against No. 12 Minnesota. Because of the team’s grueling schedule, which has mostly been on the road or at distant neutral site locations, finding time to effectively practice has been an issue, making the games that much more important as opportunities to learn and continue building chemistry.
“Each time we get out there on the court we’re learning more about ourselves,” Nagel said. “This is a great opportunity for us to learn more about our team before going into our conference schedule.… We’ll have an opportunity where we get to compete at home and feel comfortable in Cameron and all that good stuff.”
Although Duke was more consistent this past weekend than it was in its first couple of games, Nagel and the coaching staff still think there are a couple of areas the team needs to work on, most notably defense and discipline.
In their last match this weekend, the Blue Devils allowed a Georgia Southern team to push them to five games and convert more attacks than the staff would like. While much of that can certainly be attributed to the fatigue of a game the day before and another one earlier that day, it’s still something that has to concern the coaching staff as Duke gears up to face tougher opponents.
That’s not to say the team has been underperforming—on the whole, Duke has done enough to get the win in almost all of its games and is starting to build some momentum as it heads into this weekend’s home tournament. The Blue Devils have won their last five matches and have received exceptional play from a variety of sources. In the season’s first weekend, senior middle blocker Becci Burling led the team by racking up kills. This weekend, junior setter Kellie Catanach made an astonishing 114 assists in the team’s three wins while junior outside hitter Sophia Dunworth led the team in kills. Freshman Ali McCurdy also has provided solid defense throughout the season, leading the team with almost four digs per game.
But for their fourth match in only five days, Burling, Catanach, Dunworth and McCurdy’s accomplishments will matter much less than how well they handle the fatigue of constant play. They take the floor tonight at 7:00 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
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