For the five freshmen Blue Devils, the rivalry against North Carolina is just a team tradition that they have been hearing about from the veterans in the locker room.
Now, they will be part of the rivalry themselves.
"I am so excited,” freshman setter Cindy Marina said. “I’m thinking about it all day, all night, and I can’t wait to step onto the court and hopefully have a really good game against them.”
Duke will aim to extend its season-opening home winning streak when it hosts the No. 12 Tar Heels Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and TCU Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Last weekend's Duke Invitational gave the Blue Devils a big boost in confidence, as they dispatched UNC-Greensboro and LSU with two swift 3-0 victories and coming out on top in a five-set thriller against Eastern Kentucky. With the rivalry showdown coming early this year, Duke will play North Carolina in a rare nonconference game before heading into the ACC schedule in late September.
“This team did a really great job on preseason, worked really hard and really worked to come together as a team,” Blue Devil head coach Jolene Nagel said. “This team will set some goals for themselves, and one of them involves being undefeated at home, taking pride in that. So I’m hoping that we go ahead and really work hard to protect our home court.”
Duke (3-0) looks to recover from a rough home season in 2015 after going only 7-7 at Cameron, losing three out of the four meetings against visiting ranked opponents.
The freshmen will continue to play an important role Thursday.
As the new starting setter, Marina delivered two solid double-doubles—notching at least 10 assists and digs—against UNC-Greensboro and Eastern Kentucky and again paced the team with 38 assists facing LSU over the weekend. Freshman outside hitter Jamie Stivers also found her rhythm against the Tigers, tying a team-high 11 kills with a .320 hitting percentage.
“There is definitely a lot of pressure because obviously I am coming in as a freshman trying to run the setting position,” Marina said. “I am making mistakes here and there, but I am just trying to play a consistent game throughout.”
The strong performance by the newcomers relieved some offensive responsibility from senior captain Jordan Tucker, the new anchor for the Blue Devils’ offense. Along with senior middle blocker Alyse Whitaker and junior middle blocker Anna Kropf, Tucker fueled Duke’s hard-fought victory against Eastern Kentucky with a game-high 16 kills and closed out LSU with six kills in the third set.
Senior libero Sasha Karelov also expects to extend her stellar defensive performance from last season—when she ranked second in the ACC with 5.18 digs per set—to help Duke fend off the strong attacks from the Tar Heels (3-0) and the Horned Frogs.
“Being a senior and a captain, people are always looking at you in every situation," Karelov said. "You have to be consistent when the team is not doing great and also when we are good and awesome, you have to be there for everybody.”
North Carolina comes off a perfect campaign last weekend at the Penn State Classic, including a 3-2 upset against then-No. 9 Penn State, the Nittany Lions' first nonconference loss at home in five years. Redshirt senior opposite hitter Taylor Treacy spearheads the Tar Heels, who boast the No. 3 recruiting class in the nation.
“They have some very talented and some very physical players,” Nagel said. “They also have some young players that have been there for the last six months like in January, being able to train with the team all spring and into summer. They’ve got some young kids on the court. They’ve been there for a little while.”
In the previous two rivalry episodes, North Carolina handed Duke a 3-0 defeat last October in Chapel Hill, but the Blue Devils took their revenge on Senior Day at home with a 3-1 upset.
TCU (3-0) also boasts an undefeated record so far in head coach Jill Kramer's second season. In 2015, the Horned Frogs advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009, before losing to nationally-ranked Hawaii.
After the back-to-back games, Duke will have another week before heading to Long Beach, Calif., to participate in the LBSU/CSUF Baden Invitational for the second straight year.
“It's going to be a great challenge for us and really give us an idea of where we are and help us get better as we move forward in the season,” Nagel said.
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