Many sports use preseason scrimmages to simulate a game environment without added pressure to win.
But when Duke takes the court against its first three opponents this weekend, every game will go in the win or loss column.
“We’re not allowed preseason scrimmages outside of within our own team, which is really kind of rough,” Blue Devil head coach Jolene Nagel said. “Unfortunately, we don’t get those first-match jitters out earlier than when it counts.”
Duke will welcome UNC-Greensboro, Eastern Kentucky and LSU to Cameron Indoor Stadium for the Duke Invitational this weekend. The Blue Devils will take on the Spartans Friday at 7:30 p.m. before 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. dates with the Colonels and Tigers Saturday as they look to get back to the NCAA tournament after missing it last season for the first time in three years.
Five new faces will get their first taste of collegiate competition this weekend for Nagel's squad, though she said multiple freshmen are nursing injuries. The three outside hitters and two setters will attempt to bolster a team reeling from the losses of five seniors, including All-ACC outside hitter Emily Sklar, who ranks fifth in program history with 1,496 career kills.
“We’re not as healthy as we’d like to be in the first weekend,” Nagel said. “[Playing three matches in two days] will be a challenge, because our numbers are a little bit low right now, not having everybody full go.”
Duke is hoping to bounce back from a disappointing finish last year. Although the Blue Devils were ranked 25th entering the 2015 campaign, they went 17-13 and 12-8 in the ACC.
Nagel has yet to publicly announce the team's captains, but senior middle blocker Jordan Tucker will likely be counted on to help fill the void left by Duke's seniors. The Prairie Village, Kan., native started all but one match last year and was second on the team in kills behind Sklar with 323. Tucker finished the season on a high note, notching 10 or more kills in 14 of Duke’s final 19 matches.
Sophomore Leah Meyer will also likely need to perform at an all-conference level to get the Blue Devils back to the postseason. The middle blocker registered a team-high 1.05 blocks per set across 30 starts and earned All-ACC freshman team honors in 2015.
“Leah’s really developed herself in the past year with her strength and conditioning,” Nagel said. “[She] gained a whole lot of confidence in the process, so she’ll be an important piece to the puzzle for sure.”
In its first game Friday, Duke will take on a UNC-Greensboro squad that has not defeated the Blue Devils since 1974. This year’s team was picked to finish fourth in the Southern Conference coming off a third-place finish with a 22-11 record last year.
The Blue Devils will likely look to control play again Saturday against Eastern Kentucky, which has no seniors and seven freshmen on its 2016 roster.
Duke’s final match of the weekend will be a Saturday night matchup against LSU, a team it hasn’t faced since 1995. The Tigers had a disappointing end to their 2015 campaign, losing their last nine games to finish 9-20 last season, but return junior Gina Tillis, who led last year’s team with 3.6 kills per set.
“We don’t know a lot about our opponents, because nobody’s competed yet or anything, so there’s not a whole lot of scouting that can be done,” Nagel said. “Our focus is on our team and how we step out on the court to compete this weekend.”
After the full weekend of competition, the Blue Devils will ramp up competition Sept. 1 match against No. 19 North Carolina.
Amrith Ramkumar contributed reporting.
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