Two days after sweeping Virginia and winning their 10th-straight game, No. 21 Duke could not protect their undefeated home record at Cameron Indoor Stadium, as it fell to rival No. 11 North Carolina in front of a raucous crowd of 3,873.
In the 105th meeting between the two teams Sunday, the Blue Devils were swept by the Tar Heels in three sets—25-23, 26-24 and 25-20. Duke was led by sophomore middle blocker Alyse Whitaker, who registered a career-high 15 kills with only four errors on 28 attempts. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, the rest of the offense was not as effective.
“It felt like not much was working because the blocks were well set on our outsides,” Whitaker said. “We were ready to come out and play Carolina but we needed to come out more aggressive.”
North Carolina (15-2, 6-1 in the ACC) rolled into Durham on the heels of a five-game winning streak—four of which were sweeps—and came prepared to protect the net. The Tar Heels dominated Duke (15-4, 7-1) up front, compiling 11.5 team blocks compared to the Blue Devils' three. This made it difficult for Duke's outside hitters to get any sort of rhythm going. Offensive leaders Emily Sklar and Jeme Obeime only managed 10 combined kills with 12 errors between their 45 shots.
“They’re a very good blocking team and that’s no surprise,” head coach Jolene Nagel said. “We knew that coming in that they’re doing very well, they’re a physical team. We’ve got some other strengths that at times we showed, but not enough to make a difference.”
During the first two sets, the Tar Heels only committed four errors, as opposed to Duke’s 16. North Carolina senior Chaniel Nelson had 13 kills—including both set-winners—as the Blue Devils struggled to close out either set. Late in the first set, Duke led 22-21, but soon after a timeout, the Tar Heels—who had not led since they held an 8-7 advantage—tied the game at 23. North Carolina proceeded to score the next two points and steal the set from the Blue Devils.
“Nothing was really going our way,” Whitaker said. “We couldn’t put the ball away. All around, we had team errors.”
The second set was more of the same, as the score was tied 12 times and neither team led by more than two throughout the set. With Duke down 23-21, Nagel called a timeout to rally the team. Fresh out of the break, the Blue Devils tied the game up at 23, with the tying point coming on a nice touch by senior Kelsey Williams, who contributed 42 assists. The game was tied up again after both teams traded points, but as in the first set, mistakes gave North Carolina the next two points and the set.
“We were doing some things pretty well,” Nagel said. “It’s just that when you’re playing a good opponent and the two of you are pretty comparable and tight, you can’t afford any miscommunication or lack of control…At the end of the first set, [we had] a couple of errors. At the end of the second, for sure, we had some errors too...we just needed to execute better.”
In the third set, it was more of the same for the home squad. North Carolina began to make errors—it had five total in the final set, more than the other two sets combined—and the Blue Devils were able to build an 8-5 lead. The Tar Heels then stormed back to tie the game at nine. On the next play, Duke libero Sasha Karelov and Sklar collided during a serve for another instance of poor communication between the team Sunday. From that point on, the Blue Devils never held the lead again. They trailed by as much as five and gave up the last four points of the game.
During Duke’s victory against Virginia, it had less than six errors in each of its three sets. The mistakes piled up Sunday—21 attack errors to North Carolina’s nine—costing it the match. Although the Blue Devils had more kills—48 to the Tar Heels’ 47—Duke only had a hitting percentage of 0.209 compared to North Carolina's 0.298.
Duke will look to bounce back as it continues its four-game homestand against Clemson Friday at 6:30 p.m.
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