This weekend Cameron Indoor Stadium will play host to three first-round NCAA Tournament games. After going 24-6 this season and winning the ACC Championship, Duke was awarded the No. 12 overall seed out of 64 Tournament teams.
The Blue Devils take on High Point (22-12) tonight at 7 p.m, after Ohio battles Pennsylvania, and Duke will embrace its home court advantage.
The Blue Devils won all but one of their 14 games at home this season—going a perfect 9-0 in conference—by making the most of a comfortable atmosphere and a supportive crowd. The Panthers’ struggles on the road this year—as reflected by a 9-10 record away from home—will only compound Duke’s home court advantage.
“The home court is absolutely something we are going to try and take advantage of,” head coach Jolene Nagel said. “Since we do not have to travel, the team will be well rested and I think the fact that we get to sleep in our own beds helps a lot. But anything can happen at this point in the season. Anyone can win the tournament so we still need to make sure we come to play, and play well this weekend.”
The Blue Devils enter postseason play with high expectations. The team has performed well all season, winning its first ACC title since 2008, and had a school-record five players named to the All-ACC team. Junior setter Kellie Cantanach won ACC Player of the Year after leading Duke’s offense with 11.4 assists per set. Joining her on the All-ACC team are fellow Blue Devils Becci Burling, Amanda Robertson, Christiana Gray and Ali McCurdy. To top it all off, Nagel won the honor of ACC coach of the year. With such an all-star cast, it isn’t hard to see why the team believes it can continue its success.
But individual honors alone will not win the match for the Blue Devils tonight. Despite High Point’s less than stellar record, Nagel is wary of the Panthers’ attack.
“They run a really fast offense on their side of the net,” Nagel said. “I think we may look to serve hard in this match. We also need to make sure that we have control of the ball when it comes over to our side of the net, so we can prevent them from running their offense at such a fast pace.”
High Point will be playing in its first ever NCAA Tournament game, as the Panthers advanced to the competition by winning the Big South tournament title for the first time in program history. They are riding an eight-game winning streak and only dropped a single set during their run to the conference tournament championship.
In their last NCAA Tournament appearance in 2009, the Blue Devils lost in the first round to then-No. 24 Tennessee in four sets. This marked the first time since 2004 that Duke had failed to advance to the second round of the Tournament.
Volleyball fans are eager for the Blue Devils to get back to their winning ways in the postseason, and if Duke knocks off High Point it will play the winner of the Ohio-Pennsylvania game Saturday at 7 p.m.
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