Duke Makes Quick Work Of Boston College In 3-0 Win

Saturday, October 25

Durham, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

Boston College

Volleyball Set To Take On Wake Forest In Mid-Week ACC Tilt

Duke Makes Quick Work Of Boston College In 3-0 Win

10/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Jourdan Norman connected on eight of her 11 attacks without committing and error and put down three blocks Saturday night to lead Duke to a 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-15) win over Boston College in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Norman finished with a .727 hitting percentage against the Eagles (6-17, 0-11 ACC), marking the third time this season that the senior middle blocker reached the .700 mark this season. The performance came one night after Norman topped the 1,000-kill plateau against Maryland on Friday and raised her season hitting percentage to a team-leading .340.

Norman was one of three Blue Devils to hit .400 or better in the match, leading freshman teammate Sophia Dunworth, who went 8-for-16 (.500) with an error, junior Rachael Moss, who went 11-for-19 (.474) and fellow middle blocker Becci Burling, who finished 4-for-10 (.400). Duke (17-6, 8-3 ACC) made just five attack errors in the match which is the fewest faults the Blue Devils have made since before 2003.

“We were excited to be able to play at home again and have our fans see us in action,” head coach Jolene Nagle said. “I felt like we did a great job tonight of executing and taking advantage of opportunities that were before us. We improved on some of the things we needed to and did a good job passing tonight against a strong-serving Boston College team.”

Duke was able to score at will against Boston College and hit .317 or better in every set, including a .423 clip in the third frame. Freshman setter Kellie Catanach directed the offense to a .367 hitting percentage for the match after seeing 23 of her 51 sets go down for kills. The effort was more than enough to outpace the .097 clip put up by Boston College, which had trouble getting anything past the net and hit into nine Duke blocks. Led by a four-block effort from Carls, Duke held the Eagles to a .061 and .071 hitting percentage in the final two sets. Norman, Catanach and Burling also helped out on three of those stops while Dunworth worked her way in on two and freshman Kayla Kirk and Moss each got their hands in on one.

When Boston College's attacks did get past the net, libero Claire Smalzer and fellow defensive specialist Aana Wherry were there to keep it off the ground and each ended up in double figures. Smalzer racked up 12 digs while Wherry added 10 to reach double digits for the fourth straight match. Additionally, Smalzer and Moss combined for 29 errorless serve receptions.

The Blue Devils had little trouble scoring against the Eagles in the opening set and logged a .391 hitting percentage on the way to a 25-16 win. Norman went 4-for-5 in the opener without an error as the Blue Devils committed just three faults. Catanach saw seven of her 12 sets go down for kills before swapping spots with junior Christina Falcone, who came in to contribute an assist and a kill in place of Catanach. Defensively, Duke held Boston College to a .192 clip thanks to a combined 10 team digs, seven of which came from Smalzer and Wherry.

Duke held the momentum into the second set as well and put up a .317 clip with just one attack error en route to a 25-14 win. While Norman stayed flawless and went 3-for-3, Moss connected on six of her 10 attacks without an error to pick up the bulk of Duke's offense. Catanach picked up eight more assists in the set before handing the ball over to sophomore Alex Sall, who came in with Duke ahead 21-13. Sall helped close out the win by assisting on four straight kills to close out the match on a 8-2 Duke run.

When it seemed as if Duke could not play any better, the Blue Devils turned it up even more and hit .423 in the final set to wrap up the match with a 25-15 victory. Duke made just one more attack error in the frame and put down eight of Catanach's 13 sets while forcing nine Boston College attack errors. Dunworth (3), Moss (3), Burling (2) and Carls (2) each had multiple kills without an error while Burling also contributed to the final score with two blocks and an assist.

Currently mired in a five-way tie for the top spot in the ACC standings, Duke will have a chance to knock off some of its competition next weekend as the Blue Devils travel to Florida to face Miami and Florida State on Friday and Sunday, Oct. 31 and Nov. 2. Duke split a weekend series against the two teams in their first meeting, falling 3-1 to Miami before routing Florida State 3-1. Miami shares the top spot in the ACC standings alongside Duke and three other teams.

-d-u-k-e-