Duke Dominates Florida State In 3-0 Sweep

Sunday, October 22

Tallahassee, Fla.

1 p.m.

Duke University

Florida State

Duke Dominates Florida State In 3-0 Sweep

10/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

By: Duke Sports Information

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. ? The Duke volleyball team capped off the first half of the ACC schedule with its 11th straight conference victory by dominating Florida State in a 3-0 (30-21, 30-20, 30-27) sweep on Sunday afternoon at Tully Gym. The Blue Devils improve to 18-2 overall and 11-0 in the ACC while the Seminoles fall to 15-6 and 9-3, respectively.

Dating back to last year, Duke is 28-5 in its last 33 ACC matches, including a 21-1 mark in its last 22. This season, the Blue Devils have posted 3-0 sweeps in nine of their 11 conference victories.

“Our team served very well today and that gave us a head start during the match,” stated Duke head coach Jolene Nagel. “We also did a good job of controlling the ball when we had a chance to touch it and we were able to transition that into kills. We're really excited to come off this road trip with a pair of wins against two good teams.”

Florida State jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the opening game before Duke went on an 8-4 run to take an 8-7 lead. With the Blue Devils holding a 15-14 advantage later in the game, Duke used a 6-0 run to go ahead 21-14 on their way to a 30-21 game one victory. Senior Tealle Hunkus led Duke with five kills and a .308 hitting percentage in the opening game. Junior Carrie DeMange had four kills and sophomore Jourdan Norman added three kills and hit .750 in the game.

After the Blue Devils and Seminoles traded the first 16 points of game two, Duke went on a 13-3 run to take a 10-point lead at 21-11. The Blue Devils then scored nine of the next 18 points to take a 2-0 lead with a 30-20 game two victory. Duke hit .483 and held Florida State to a .074 hitting percentage in the second game. Freshman Rachael Moss had four kills and hit .800 in game two while sophomore Sue Carls added four kills and a .667 hitting percentage. Junior Ali Hausfeld had three kills and a 1.000 hitting percentage in the second game and Hunkus added three kills, as well.

The Seminoles held a 6-4 advantage early in game three before a 5-0 Duke run put the Blue Devils up 9-6. After Florida State cut the lead to one at 9-8, Duke went on a 9-5 run to go ahead 18-13. The Blue Devils would push their lead to 23-17 before a 4-0 Seminole run made it a two-point game at 23-21. Duke then scored seven of the next 13 points to hold on for a 30-27 game three victory. DeMange led the way for the Blue Devils in the third game, posting six kills and a .333 hitting percentage. Carls had four kills, Norman recorded three kills and a .750 hitting percentage and Moss added three kills in game three.

The Blue Devils hit .318 in the match and held the Seminoles to a season-low .110 hitting percentage.

Norman posted seven kills on nine attempts with no errors for a career-high .778 hitting percentage. She also had a match-high four blocks. DeMange led the way offensively with a match-high 12 kills and a .348 hitting percentage to go along with three digs and a block.

Hunkus had 10 kills while Carls and Moss added nine kills apiece. Carls finished with a .316 hitting percentage and two blocks and Moss had 10 digs and three service aces in the win. Hausfeld paced the Blue Devil attack with a match-high 43 assists to go along with three kills, seven digs and two service aces.

Junior Jenny Shull anchored the Duke defense with a match-high 11 digs to move past Tricia Hopkins for fourth place on Duke's all-time career digs list with 1,310. She also added three assists, two service aces and a kill in the victory.

“I want to commend the entire team on great team effort and for working so hard to get to this point,” Nagel added. “We've been mentally ready to be where we needed to be during the first half of the ACC schedule. I think our team is playing with composure and steadiness which is allowing us to be successful. Now, we want to take a deep breath and refocus to get ready for the second half of the conference schedule.”

The Blue Devils will start the second half of the 22-match ACC schedule next weekend when they travel to Georgia Tech (11-10, 3-8 ACC) and Clemson (13-6, 8-3 ACC) on Friday and Saturday.

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