Anyone who has spent the day at the beach knows the ebb and flow of the tide. It’s high in the morning, low by night when it drains from the shore, and will rise again by the next morning.
But even as the Blue Devils’ three matches at the Duke Invitational in Cameron Indoor Stadium Friday and Saturday ebbed and flowed, it was ultimately the Blue Devils who were able to, in the words of head coach Jolene Nagel, “stay steady.”
Take, for example, the fourth set against Northeastern, in which the Huskies came out with a high-powered offense that took advantage of Duke struggling to close the block and settle itself on defense. It looked like the Huskies were about to pull away until sophomore middle blocker Rylie Kadel helped settle the Blue Devils’ blocking flow and picked up several aces to bring Duke back into the game. But the Blue Devils soon faltered again at the net on blocking miscues and could not shut down Northeastern’s aggressive offense, struggling in the back row and erring on critical serves, bringing the score to 16-15 Huskies.
Cue senior outside hitter Gracie Johnson finishing out the set with a series of kills that hit the floor before she even landed back on the ground, ending the match.
Duke bested East Tennessee State, Northeastern and East Carolina in a series that, like the tide, had its highs and lows during every set. It was a much-needed experience for a team with many new faces and a noticeable provider of confidence going forward for a team that in past seasons struggled with recovering after falling behind.
“I think they were good matches for us to test ourselves,” Nagel said of the weekend. “There were times where we were doing really well and then we fell a little bit, but we were able to bring it back—and I think that’s a really good sign for our team, but I also think it’s a good message to our team that when things aren’t going necessarily that well, they can bring it back.”
At Friday’s home opener against ETSU (1-5), the Blue Devils (4-2) debuted “Hate Won’t Live Here” warmup shirts, which they continued to wear throughout the weekend. Former and current men’s basketball head coaches Mike Krzyzewski and Jon Scheyer were in attendance, in addition to athletic director Nina King. The game began with a moment of silence, in which the Blue Devils linked arms and kneeled, which they did at the beginning of all three of their matches throughout the weekend.
Nagel commended the team’s leaders for being “really important in trying to take care of their teammates and stand up for what they believe was right” throughout the week.
“They did a tremendous job of that. I just needed to encourage them that they had a voice and that all our team had a voice and just support them in that. I trust them so much,” Nagel said after Duke's win Friday.
“Having each other’s backs” has been crucial throughout the week, Nagel said. Friday’s match, with the stands packed full of a loud, supportive crowd, was a testament to that.
“It’s about what we’re doing and how we’re responding,” Nagel said. “And we all love each other very deeply.”
After a decisive first-set victory against East Carolina (2-4), the score was 23-23 as Duke and the Pirates found themselves neck and neck at the end of the second set. But with two block assists, an ace by Johnson and a settled offense late, the Blue Devils let the Pirates make the mistakes and closed out the set.
“I think we passed the ball, and we took advantage of out-of-system stuff … we ran that crisply,” Nagel said about the end of the set. “When things weren’t perfect, we would maybe have people in to maybe set a ball, and I think our team stayed aggressive during that time. I think that was one big thing that helped us get through that—we didn’t withdraw or anything, we stayed aggressive.”
Duke’s offense was aggressive throughout the weekend, which helped the Blue Devils get their flow back when they began to fall behind in sets. Sophomore Rachel Richardson capitalized off of powerful line attacks from the outside that exposed the scrappy nature of East Carolina's defense and resulted in free balls that the Blue Devils made easy use of. Johnson ended the weekend with 48 kills and 14 aces, a testament to her power and composure in every part of her game. Richardson was also vital to Duke’s out-of-system plays, using her athleticism to jump high and send well-placed swings to the other side of the net even when the set was outside the pin or hovering around the ten-foot line.
But when the ball was in system, Nagel described it in one word: “fast.” Duke’s first rally against East Carolina was a low pass from Richardson to setter Devon Chang, a quick dish to senior middle blocker Lizzie Fleming and a kill that left the crowd stunned. The play lasted all of about three seconds.
It was also another example of how well Chang works with her hitters in just the short amount of time she has spent with the Blue Devils. The graduate transfer from UCLA ended the weekend with 130 assists and proved her ability to read the court and distribute the ball to frazzle the opposing team’s blocking unit.
“It was honestly instant,” Kadel said of her connection with Chang. “She just puts the ball up there perfectly. It’s, dare I say it, a match made in heaven.”
Kadel was another standout on the Blue Devil offense, ending the weekend with 15 blocks and energizing the offense and crowd by capitalizing on exciting plays. A perfectly placed slam over the net after an overpass by the East Carolina defense was a testament to her ability to follow the ball well on the other side of the net and get the Blue Devils riled up, with the Cameron crowd responding animatedly to the end of the play.
The weekend’s matchups also demonstrated how well the Blue Devils mesh together on the court, even with six freshmen and two graduate transfers adding eight new faces to the roster. In the preseason, Nagel said that the Blue Devils had been trying to do a lot of work to get to know each other on and off the court, and those efforts have been “coming along really well,” she said Saturday evening.
“I think the people that we have, they’re really great communicators, and also just have a really good team attitude,” Nagel said.
The flow of Duke’s teamwork was put to the test Saturday morning when graduate transfer libero Madison Bryant went down against Northeastern (2-4) and was helped off the court. The Blue Devils seamlessly finished the set without a libero and incorporated sophomore outside hitter Nikki Underwood into the role for the rest of the day.
“I thought Nikki did a tremendous job coming in and playing that role, and she was pretty solid throughout the match,” Nagel said. “I was excited to see that. That helps us develop some of our depth.”
“One percent better every day” is one of the team’s mottoes this year, Kadel told The Chronicle Saturday evening. That motto is Kadel’s biggest personal goal for the season.
“One percent better every day is one of our big mottos this year, so that’s what I want to keep doing. This weekend was a good benchmark and a good start for me, and I just want to keep getting better,” she said Saturday evening.
Suresh Kannoth contributed reporting.
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Leah Boyd is a Pratt senior and a social chair of The Chronicle's 118th volume. She was previously editor-in-chief for Volume 117.