Duke volleyball defeats Princeton in 5 sets, falls to Penn State and St. John's on the weekend

Not every point in volleyball is the most consequential. In general, serving while up 5-3 in the fourth set isn’t a make-or-break point.

Rachel Richardson stepped to the service line, and delivered. Princeton — up two sets to one — dug it well, set and hit the ball with authority, forcing Blue Devil libero Mailinh Godschall to throw herself in front of the oncoming ball. The Tigers were in command of the point, earning a hit on a free ball. In a last-ditch effort to keep the point alive, Richardson threw out her fist. 

After Richardson’s miraculous touch, Godschall dove in front of her own bench to save it. But Princeton still had a distinct advantage with another free ball. 

The sure-handed Richardson received the Tiger spike, directing it to setter Grace Penn who, in turn, set up outside hitter Kerry Keefe for the kill to Princeton’s back corner. The energy in the gym continuously built throughout the point, and when Keefe won it, one of those seemingly inconsequential points gave Duke energy to go on a 19-14 run to win the set.

Duke volleyball (4-5) defeated Princeton (2-4) in five sets in its first matchup of three at a weekend tournament hosted by No. 3 Penn State. The Blue Devils finished the weekend 1-2 after beating the Tigers and losing to the Nittany Lions and St. John’s.

During the first two sets of the Princeton match, the initial ball undoubtedly would have landed. Nothing was going the Blue Devils’ way. There were countless examples of players falling to the ground, failing to slip a hand in between the ball and the floor. The Tigers played a clean game on defense and were dominant at the net to take a commanding two-set lead. 

However, this Duke side is resilient. Head coach Jolene Nagel’s team jogged back out of the locker room and got some touches on the court before the crucial third set. The starters took the floor with smiles on their faces and the squad played clean defense and efficient offense to stay alive, winning 25-17 and forcing a fourth set.

In the first two sets, the Blue Devils had put up a teamwide 26 kills on 81 attempts with a whopping 16 errors, leading to a lackluster .123 hitting percentage. Keefe’s kill wasn’t in a vacuum — Duke’s attack had been much more precise starting in the third set. The Blue Devils notched an efficient 39 kills on 78 attempts with only 10 errors in their final three sets, good for a stellar .372 hitting percentage.

Statistically, in most aspects of the game, the two sides were very equal. Duke had a slight advantage at the service line, tallying one more ace and two less errors. 

One of those aces came in one of those points that is the most consequential. In the fourth set, Keefe stepped to the line, and the team’s star delivered an ace. The Blue Devil bench was fired up, as the point cut their deficit to one, 23-22. Duke was on the precipice of being able to pull off a similar comeback to Friday morning’s, and escape the weekend with two unlikely victories. 

Unfortunately for the Blue Devil faithful, it wasn’t meant to be. St. John’s stopped Duke’s momentum in its tracks as Giorgia Walther notched her 25th kill of the game, and despite Ngozi Iloh giving Duke one last chance, Erin Jones killed the Blue Devils’ hopes of another comeback.

During the course of the match, the Red Storm tallied more kills, albeit on a less efficient attack. Defensively, the Blue Devils, led by middle blocker Rylie Kadel’s 10, notched 30 blocks to St. John’s’ 19. In the backcourt, the absence of Godschall evidently hurt Duke, with only 29 digs throughout the game, far fewer than the Red Storm’s 54.

Next up for the Blue Devils, Michigan State and Michigan come to Durham for the Big 10/ACC Challenge starting Sept. 20.