Losing streaks can cause panic even among the most experienced coaches.
Despite the fact that No. 21 Duke (4-3) is in the midst of its longest losing streak in eight years, though, head coach Jolene Nagel remains positive.
“I don’t think about losing streaks,” Nagel said. “We knew it was going to be a tough road. We are going to get better from the tough competition we face and that’s going to help us as we go into the ACC season.”
Thursday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium, No. 19 San Diego (7-0) handed the Blue Devils their third straight loss, 25-22, 25-12, 17-25, 25-16.
The loss marks the first time since 2003 that Duke has dropped three games in a row.
The Toreros started the match well, controlling the first set on their way to a 25-22 victory. The set was not even as close as the score may indicate, however, due to ten San Diego errors. Then, after winning a long rally to pull even at 5-5, the Toreros dominated the Blue Devils to win the second set 25-12. In that set, the Toreros went on three separate runs of four straight points and got four kills from sophomore Katie Hoekman. Duke, led by freshman Jeme Obeime with 5 kills, fought back to win the third set 25-17. But San Diego finished off the Blue Devils 25-16 in the fourth set, capping Duke’s first loss at home in nearly a year.
The Toreros benefitted from a well-rounded offensive attack—they had four players finish the game with double digit kills—and ended up with 56 as a team. In comparison, the Blue Devils had only 36 kills and a single player, senior Amanda Robertson, with ten or more.
“They were really coming at us with their serve,” Robertson said. “We could tell they were being aggressive.”
San Diego had eight service aces on the night compared to Duke’s two. Junior Carrie Baird led the Toreros with 17 service attempts without an error.
When asked about San Diego’s strengths in the game, Nagel singled out the Toreros consistent blocking and coverage of their hitters.
“What they did a lot better than we did was cover their hitters so [they] could continue to get swings on the ball,” Nagel said. “Early in that first set, to set the tone of the match, we were getting blocked left and right. We weren’t covering our hitters well enough to be able to get second, third, fourth or fifth swings on the ball.”
But Nagel was not fazed by Thursday night’s game nor any of her team’s recent losses. Instead, she focused on what the team can improve on before their next contest, home on Sept. 13 against Campbell.
“We want to be a better defensive team than we are right now,” Nagel said. “We think we can dig some of the balls we are not getting to right now.”
In addition to digging, Nagel said she plans to work with her players on their blocking and discipline on offense.
“We need to have our team step up now,” Nagel said, “and understand the things we need to do better.”
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