Duke entered the first round of the NCAA Tournament last night with high hopes and looked to come away with a hard-fought victory against Tennessee. Instead, the Blue Devils saw a difficult season-ending match.
Duke fell to the 14th-seeded Lady Volunteers 3-1 Thursday night at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn.
“We’re very disappointed that we weren’t able to execute just a little bit better tonight in order to come out on top,” head coach Jolene Nagel said. “We’re disappointed that we weren’t able to pull it off, but... they executed tonight better than we did.”
Thursday’s event was a rematch of the 2006 and 2009 NCAA first rounds, where the Blue Devils made up for the 2006 3-1 loss with a 3-1 victory in the meeting two years ago.
Duke’s performance last night was disappointing, with its highest attack rate just 26.1 percent in the second set—which it won—and its lowest 2.2 percent in the fourth set. While Duke came out on top in number of digs, 75 to 68, Tennessee out-blocked its opponents 12 to four.
Despite the upsetting result that saw a couple of close sets—25-15, 23-25, 25-19, 25-16—a few Blue Devil upperclassmen helped keep the team in the match.
In her last appearance in a Duke jersey, Amanda Robertson notched a double-double with 13 digs and 11 kills, contributing 12 points overall. Veterans Kellie Catanach and Christiana Gray also proved instrumental, with Catanach notching 42 assists and Gray leading the team with 13 points.
“It was my last shot, my last chance, and going into it, I wanted to enjoy every moment of it,” said Catanach, a reigning All-American setter. “I think that’s something that me and the other seniors in my class really did, and we really wanted to leave a legacy for Duke volleyball and to really leave an impact for the other players.”
The senior—along with other veterans on the team—served as inspiration for sophomore libero Ali McCurdy, who highlighted the upperclassmen’s guidance throughout the season.
McCurdy had a standout night against Tennessee as she broke the school’s single-season digs record, with 26 for the game and 653 on the year. Despite breaking a Duke record, the sophomore could not help but focus on the team’s loss, especially after a deep run in last year’s tournament.
“I feel like last season, there was this huge push, and we got really far in the tournament and made it to the Elite Eight, and this year that was what we strived to do, to go further,” McCurdy said. “It was a new team, and I think that throughout the season, we had big wins, and it stinks to come out on this side of it, but Tennessee was a great team, and as coach said in the locker room, they are going to go far.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.