Duke Muscles Past Maryland In Sweep

Thursday, October 12

Durham, N.C.

7 p.m.

Duke University

Maryland

Blue Devils Set To Host N.C. State On Wednesday

Duke Muscles Past Maryland In Sweep

10/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? The Duke volleyball team won its eighth straight match and stayed perfect in ACC play with a 3-0 sweep (30-21, 30-20, 30-21) over Maryland on Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke improves to 15-2 overall and 8-0 in the ACC while the Terrapins fall to 8-9 overall and 1-7 in league play.

“I think our team feels like Cameron (Indoor Stadium) is home sweet home, that's for sure,” said Duke head coach Jolene Nagel after her team won its 25th straight at home dating back to 2004. “We're really excited to be able to have the start that we've had in the ACC and we're going to work hard to continue it.”

With the win, Nagel earned her 150th victory at Duke.

The first game was tied at eight all before senior Polly Bendush served four straight including an ace and junior Ali Hausfeld served three straight points to force a Maryland timeout with a 14-9 advantage. The game stayed even and with Duke up 19-13, it was freshman Rachael Moss' turn to serve and after the Terps second timeout at 20-13, she pushed Duke's lead to 23-13. Hausfeld had two kills and an ace near the end of the game for a 30-21 Duke win.

Moss and junior Carrie DeMange each had six kills in the first game while junior Jenny Shull had 10 digs and Moss came up with nine digs of her own. Senior Tealle Hunkus added four kills and Hausfeld finished with three to go with her 12 assists and seven digs.

Game two was even for the first third of the game as there were nine ties in the first 11 points before Moss served Duke to a 13-11 lead and Bendush pushed the lead to 17-12. Shull went to serve with Duke up 21-16 and had an ace and scored two more points to put Duke up 24-16. Moss then scored an ace and served a few points at the end to give Duke a 30-20 victory.

Duke had 21 kills in game two as DeMange and sophomore Jourdan Norman each had five and Hunkus and Moss had four apiece. Hausfeld had 16 assists and Shull added eight more digs.

Shull's serving gave Duke an early 8-4 lead and the Blue Devils held par until Hunkus went back behind the service line and scored five straight for Duke, pushing the lead to 19-12. Duke was able to show its depth a little at the end of game three as junior Shelley Capito responded with an ace to push Duke's lead to 28-17 and Duke held on for the 30-21 win.

Duke's dominance from the service line really showed as the Blue Devils had five aces from five different players in game three. Freshman Brittany Staffeil came in and recorded a pair of kills and freshman Christina Falcone recorded her first ACC assist on Duke's last point. Senior Pixie Levanas recorded a pair of kills in game three while hitting 1.000 and sophomore Aana Wherry had a kill and a block to help propel the Blue Devils.

For the match, Moss led Duke with 14 kills and DeMange and Hunkus added 12 apiece. Shull led the defensive effort with 21 digs while Moss added 18, Hausfeld 14 and Hunkus 13. Hausfeld added 41 assists and five kills while hitting .455 for the Blue Devils.

Bendush finished with three service aces and Shull and Moss had two apiece as Duke had 10 aces as a team. As a team, Duke hit .259 while holding Maryland to a .109 hitting percentage. Jade Brown led the Terps with 10 kills and 11 digs and Maggie Schmelzle had a match-high 23 digs for Maryland.

“Our team is doing a great job of mentally being where they need to be at the time of competition,” Nagel said. “Therefore we've been able to do what we've been able to do and I think it's an all team effort in that mental part of it. They're doing a good job of everybody trying to get where they need to be in order to play and compete and take care of business.”

Duke returns to the court Friday in a 7 p.m. match against Boston College. The Eagles are 6-10 overall and 4-3 in ACC play.

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