Junior middle blocker Jordan Tucker has keyed Duke’s second-half resurgence as the Blue Devils set their eyes on a return trip to the postseason. But the road to success in Durham was not always clear-cut.
The Blue Devils—who could not win the close sets in Friday night’s loss to Georgia Tech—won both tight frames against the Tigers and won another by 13 points.
After rattling off four straight victories, the Blue Devils took a step back Friday, falling in straight sets at O'Keefe Gym in Atlanta.
Just when the season seemed to be getting away from them, the Blue Devils righted the ship with four straight wins. With a pair of victories this weekend, Duke may move itself back into the postseason conversation.
Four straight wins, a healthy lineup and a sweep against Virginia—the Blue Devils are officially catching fire.
With her team trailing late in the first set, Duke head coach Jolene Nagel called a timeout to settle the Blue Devils, who responded with a backbreaking 10-0 run to seize control of the match.
After defending their home court last weekend, the Blue Devils must take that momentum on the road Wednesday at Wake Forest as they continue their ACC campaign.
Leading 25-24 in the fourth set, freshman middle blocker Leah Meyer and senior setter Christina Vucich leaped up to stuff Amanda McKinzie at the net to secure a four-set victory for Duke against Virginia Tech, handing Duke a 2-0 weekend at home.
The Blue Devils are no strangers to five-set games this season, and most of the time, they have fallen just short of victory in the decisive set. But finally they made the plays down the stretch against the Panthers and rewarded the home crowd with a refreshing win.
The ACC can be a grueling storm at times, and the Blue Devils will have to continue their trek through the heart of it with two tough matchups against Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech this weekend.
Although both teams put down 47 kills, Duke's 16 attack errors—seven more than were committed by the Cardinals—loomed large in the loss.
Following a rough recent stretch, the Blue Devils took down Notre Dame in straight sets, shaking off their two most recent losses to pick up a much-needed conference victory.
Through their first 16 games, the road for the Blue Devils has had its peaks and valleys, but Duke will need to come to life on its upcoming trek to jump back into contention in the ACC.
For the second time in three days, The Blue Devils battled to the last second against their opponents, but the Hurricanes came out to be the better team to take down a road win.
After falling behind two sets to none, things looked bleak for the Blue Devils. But Duke fought back to force a fifth and decisive set, only to come up just short against the visiting Seminoles.
After an up-and-down weekend, the Blue Devils will try to push their record back above .500 as they face a pair of challenging ACC teams from the Sunshine State.
Duke received standout performances from Leah Meyer, Jordan Tucker and Cadie Bates—all of whom had 13 or more kills—to outlast N.C. State in five sets Sunday, snapping a two-match losing streak.
Volleyball may be played in sets, but for the Blue Devils, Friday's match was a matter of two halves. They hung around in the first one, but lost their grip near the midway point, resulting in another loss against a tough but beatable opponent.
After a week to recover and learn from its most recent setback, Duke will look to climb back above .500 in conference play against its Triangle rivals.
Duke swallowed a difficult loss against Virginia Friday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium, 17-25, 17-25, 25-21, 23-25, suffering its first defeat in ACC play after sweeping Wake Forest Wednesday.
