The Wolfpack had their minds on avenging a five-set loss from early October, but the Blue Devils had other plans in mind.
Duke topped N.C. State in three sets (25-23, 25-23, 25-21) Wednesday afternoon at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils took advantage of frequent Wolfpack service errors to outlast the visitors in three hard-fought frames, each time staving off an N.C. State rally. Junior middle blockers Alyse Whitaker and Jordan Tucker stuffed the score sheet with 21 combined kills Freshman middle blocker Leah Meyer also put up nine kills to go along with five blocks.
“[I am] really glad we were able to get it done today in three,” Duke head coach Jolene Nagel said. “It wasn’t necessarily a smooth sailing all the way. I think N.C. State did a great job of using block and just being aggressive out there in the play, both offensively and defensively. But I thought our team adjusted and we were able to pick up some more balls defensively and we served pretty well today.”
After a tough five-set loss to the Blue Devils in Raleigh in October, the Wolfpack (15-16, 4-15 in the ACC) looked to flip the script on the road, kicking off game with two kills to set an aggressive tone early in the first set. The Blue Devils (16-13, 11-8) closed the gap with consistent production from Tucker and Whitaker, and N.C. State's aggressiveness soon became its undoing. Three straight Wolfpack attack errors gave Duke a 14-10 lead. The Blue Devils extended the lead to 17-12, but N.C. State battled back to force a 20-20 tie.
After a critical kill from senior outside hitter Emily Sklar on the ensuing point, Duke claimed the lead again and went on to collect the frame 25-23 on a Tucker kill. Wednesday's match was the 15th this year in which Tucker tallied double-digit kills.
“Jordan has really been consistent throughout this ACC season as far as how hard she’s worked to get open for the ball, how hard she’s worked to get over there to block,” Nagel said. “She’s been a very steady presence for us out there, which has been very helpful.”
The second stanza closely resembled the first. Unable to limit its service and attack errors, N.C. State fell behind 10-7. The Blue Devils took a commanding 19-13 advantage but again had putting the Wolfpack away for good. After a kill from sophomore outside hitter Perry Ramsey, N.C. State evened the score at 23-23. But a Sklar kill and a block by Meyer and Whitaker cemented the frame and gave Duke a commanding two-set advantage.
The Blue Devils seemed well on their way to a third-set victory, leading 12-9 midway through the frame. But the Wolfpack seemed to find their footing, knocking down five unanswered points to turn the score in their favor. Duke responded with a 10-4 of its own to prevent the need to extend to a fourth set, closing the match with a 25-21 win.
“We really went out hard in the beginning and they got a couple points on us,” Whitaker said. “But we really wanted to finish hard and beat them in three, because we went to five last time. So we were really excited [to win in three].”
The Blue Devils will host North Carolina Saturday at 1 p.m. in their last game of the regular season.
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