The Blue Devils finally returned home this weekend to play in the Duke Invitational, which welcomed Utah State, Liberty and South Carolina to Durham this weekend.
After spending the last two weekends on the road, the Blue Devils played a doubleheader Friday. After notching a straight-set victory against Liberty earlier in day. The Blue Devils returned to Cameron Indoor Stadium to face Utah State in the nightcap. Duke once again swept the contest, winning straight-sets, 25-21, 25-14 and 25-10.
“I thought that our team came out tonight ready to play,” said head coach Jolene Nagel. “They are looking at this tournament one match at a time and they seem pretty focused when they are out there on the court.”
The Aggies (6-4) came into the game after loosing to South Carolina earlier in the day, but played a competitive first and second set before faltering in the third. At 6-foot-5, sophomore opposite side hitter Elle Brainard towered above the Blue Devils, registering a team-high seven kills, but also committing a team-high seven errors.
Duke was led by senior middle blocker Chelsea Cook, who registered a team-high 11 kills, 10 of which came in the first two sets. Sophomore Jeme Obeime was right behind Cook with 10 kills. Her final kill would give Duke the victory and positive momentum going into tomorrow’s match against South Carolina—the Blue Devils' final match of the tournament.
Following Duke's second win of the day, Nagel was not hesitant to praise two of her team's leaders.
“Chelsea was great tonight. She got in there and was available for the ball," Nagel said. "Jeme has really moved the ball around well and has been on fire today. So that’s been exciting to see. She is being smart out there and she is also going after [the ball].".
Junior setter Maggie Deichmeister had a season-high 39 sets, but it was the play of Duke’s newcomers that excited the crowd of 611 fans. Freshman Jordan Tucker had ten kills and a .571 hitting percentage.
“Jordan has a lot of personality and is going to communicate, fight. She is a smart volleyball player and I think that’s what has helped her be able to succeed,” said Nagel. “It is exciting to see a freshman be able to do that.”
In last weekend’s tournament in Minneapolis, despite winning two of their three games, the Blue Devils had trouble serving and a season-low hitting-percentage of .097 against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
The Blue Devils quadrupled that figure against Utah State, posting a 0.385 hitting-percentage and had little trouble serving to the Aggies.
“We have been working on serving all week,” said Nagel. “We would like to have a few more aces, but at least we are not having as many errors. I think it is still too many so we have to keep working on that. But and we are not killing ourselves breaking momentum by not getting the serve over.”
Duke did not seem to miss the presence of sophomore middle blocker Elizabeth Campbell, who did not appear in the match.
The Blue Devils face tougher competition tomorrow when they take on South Carolina (5-3), who are also undefeated in tournament play. But the home crowd will be standing behind Duke tomorrow, something that sophomore Jeme Obeime said is a welcome sight after spending the past two weekends in hostile environments.
“We haven’t played at home yet other than a scrimmage," Obeime said. "We are excited for the freshman to get their first chance at Cameron and we are excited to see our fans. Our fans really help us out and the energy was really good."
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