Boston College came to Cameron Indoor Stadium still searching for its first conference win of the season. Despite a scare in the third set, Duke would not be the Eagles' first victim.
It wasn't all smooth sailing for the No. 18 Blue Devils, but Duke was able to come away with a 3-1 victory Saturday night. With 26 digs on the evening, senior libero Ali McCurdy became the ACC's all-time leader in digs, passing Clemson's Didem Ege's previous record of 2,303.
“I think that’s just phenomenal. She’s such a coachable player. She has gotten better every year because she is so coachable,” Duke head coach Jolene Nagel said. “She has continued to work on the things that we wanted her to work on but then also has become a great digger too.”
In the first set Duke (20-3, 11-1 in the ACC) breezed by the Eagles (8-16, 0-12), winning 25-12. The Blue Devils posted 16 kills in the set and controlled the defensive end with four blocks.
McCurdy notched two digs on the same point late in the second set to tie and break Ege's ACC record. Duke went on to win the point and take the second set 25-17, and the home crowd at Cameron Indoor Stadium gave McCurdy a standing ovation.
“A great accomplishment,” McCurdy said. “It’s awesome it happened here and we were able to get a big win over Boston College. Hard work has paid off, a great season so far. So continue working hard and get to where we want to be.”
After her 26-kill performance, McCurdy now sits 13 kills ahead of Ege for most all-time in the ACC. Thanks to three straight seasons with more than 600 digs to start her career, McCurdy will have time to add to her margin as the Blue Devils enter the back half of conference play.
Playing from two sets down, Boston College jumped out to a 7-2 lead to start the third set and took the stanza 25-22. Dukes committed nine errors in the third set, compared to the seven errors the Blue Devils committed in the other three sets combined.
“I think sometimes we have to make sure we’re thinking about the right things out there on the court and simplify things a little bit in our brain rather than get caught up in extraneous things necessarily,” Nagel said. “I also felt like they really had to be the aggressor out there and find strength in each other out there.”
Adjustments were the key for the Blue Devils to rebound in the fourth set.
“They did a great job of digging balls in the third game,” sophomore outside hitter Emily Sklar said. “We just decided to switch up our offense a little bit and run some different plays. I think that was really helpful. We also went back to the third and fourth game and talked about having stronger mental focus.”
Duke turned the tide in the fourth stanza and racked up a match-high 17 kills with only three errors. Sklar ended the game with 13 kills, which makes 15 matches in a row where she has reached double digits. Duke outside hitter Jeme Obeime led the team with 14 kills.
The Blue Devils head out on the road next weekend looking to expand their winning streak at Maryland and Pittsburgh for two more ACC matchups. Although Duke has won 16 out of their last 17, they have also lost a set in two consecutive games to unranked opponents at home.
“I think overall we could have played harder, worked a little bit harder and gotten out of some situations quicker,” McCurdy said. “[We have a] big road weekend ahead. So with that coming up we have to continue to improve as the second part of the ACC season comes ahead.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.