Duke Falls to Undefeated BYU In Opening Match of Buckeye Classic

Friday, September 16

Columbus, Ohio

5 p.m.

Duke University

Brigham Young

Duke Falls to Undefeated BYU In Opening Match of Buckeye Classic

9/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

By: Duke Sports Information

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Duke volleyball team fell to 5-2 on the season, losing a close match to undefeated Brigham Young, 3-2, in the opening round of the Buckeye Classic at Ohio State. BYU (6-0) defeated the Blue Devils, 30-24, 30-24, 19-30, 24-30, 15-10.

After dropping the first two games of the match, the Blue Devils stormed back to win games three and four to force a decisive game five. Unfortunately, Duke could not keep the momentum going in the fifth game and fell 15-10.

“I was very pleased with our performance in games three and four,” stated Duke Head Coach Jolene Nagel. “We played more consistently and did a better job with our service feeds. In the first two games we did some very good things but we needed to be more consistent.”

“We made too many errors in game five,” acknowledged Nagel. “We were very disappointed that we could not pull this one out because we felt like we had the ability to do so. Our team is satisfied knowing that we can play at a high level.”

Sophomore Carrie DeMange had another strong performance for the Blue Devils, leading the team with 22 kills. Sophomore Ali Hausfeld paced the Duke attack with 44 assists in the match while senior Samantha Fisher posted 11 kills, junior Pixie Levanas had seven kills and junior Tealle Hunkus added six kills for the Blue Devils.

Sophomore Jenny Shull led the way defensively, recording a team-high 23 digs. DeMange posted her fifth double-double in seven matches, adding 14 digs to her 22 kills. She also had five blocks on the night. Hunkus added 12 digs, senior Sarah Salem had nine digs and Hausfeld notched seven digs for Duke.

“We got another solid performance by Ali in the match. She did a great job setting the ball tonight,” Nagel said. “Carrie also did a nice job for us offensively and did a great job blocking. Jenny anchored our defense and played very well for us.”

With twelve players seeing action in the match, the Blue Devils gained valuable experience against the Cougars. “We had some players who rose to the occasion tonight and I was very pleased with everyone's performance,” Nagel stated. “Pixie came in and gave us a great performance off the bench. Aana Wherry and Susanna Carls also played well. It was a great opportunity to develop our younger players on the team and I'm glad that we took advantage of that.”

“This match helped us develop as a team. We were able to play a lot of people and our subs did a very nice job for us. The match helped us do well on the court and gave us great experience as a team.”

The Blue Devils will face either Pittsburgh or Ohio State at either 5:00 or 7:00 p.m. Saturday depending on the outcome of the Panthers-Buckeyes match.