Senior captain Becci Burling came into the press conference shocked and emotional: She could hardly hold back her tears of relief and happiness at No. 12-seeded Duke’s 3-2 victory over Ohio.
Burling, who went 10-of-30 in attacks Saturday night, knew that the match against the Bobcats could be her last one in Duke uniform, and when the team was down 9-10 in the fifth set, she knew what was at stake—a bid to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
“Each and every year it’s been my goal as well as the team’s goal to get to Sweet 16, and in years past we fell a tad bit short, but this year was our time,” said Burling, who finished the match with 10 kills and 9 digs, just short of a double-double. “In the fifth set, it’s nice when we switch sides because it’s like an automatic reset button and a refresher, and it was good to be back on the starting side where we had won two sets.”
And with the change of scenery, the Blue Devils (26-6) garnered up their energy and benefited from the stellar performance of junior blocker Amanda Robertson, who struck three consecutive kills for Duke that propelled the home team into a 12-10 lead.
Duke would overcome the defensively-strong Bobcats (23-13) over the next three points to seal the deal at Cameron Indoor Stadium, where the team had already defeated High Point 3-0 Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“It is hard to put things into words sometimes when you’ve been working for a long time for something,” said head coach Jolene Nagel, who will participate in her first Sweet 16 at the school Friday. “This opportunity couldn’t happen to a more deserving group. Things weren’t smooth tonight. Ohio University has a tremendous team, played very hard. We had to really play from the heart in order to get this one tonight.”
Duke fought a tough contest Saturday at home, alternating sets with the Bobcats 25-15, 17-25, 25-18, 17-25. The Blue Devils’ losses in the second and fourth set were characterized by weak communication, as well as an abundance of errors—12 in the second and 11 in the fourth.
“I don’t think we were controlling the ball as well in game two, nor were we serving as tough…. They really took us out of our own system, and I don’t think we reacted as strong as we probably needed to in game two,” Nagel said. “Now in game four, I don’t think we had the letdown we had in game two. They played very well, but I know also that again, it was a rocky road, and our team just needed to hang tough and believe in themselves.”
Both teams had a similar level of play that saw high percentages of receives successfully make serves, with both serving at over 92 percent. Both teams also had a similar number digs, 63 for Ohio and 70 for Duke. However, the Bobcats proved a little stronger on the defensive end, ending the match with 26 total blocks to the Blue Devils’ nine.
“Ohio is an unbelievable blocking team, and they blocked really well tonight, so that made my job pretty difficult,” said junior setter Kellie Catanach, who posted her 12th double-double of the year with 40 assists and 13 digs. “We just had to keep moving the ball around and keep them guessing as best we could. It was obviously difficult tonight, but we pulled it out.”
The “indescribable” victory, as Catanach put it, means Duke will visit the Sweet 16 for only the second time in school history. The team will travel to University Park, Pa. to face Missouri Friday in the Tournament’s Round of 16.
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