No. 12 Minnesota Snaps Duke's Eight-Match Win Streak

Saturday, September 11

Durham, N.C.

12:00 p.m.

Duke University

Delaware vs. Minnesota

Volleyball Prepares for Showdown with Florida State, Miami

No. 12 Minnesota Snaps Duke's Eight-Match Win Streak

9/11/2010 9:25:00 PM | Volleyball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Duke topped N.C. Central 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-12) during the morning session of the final day of the Duke Invitational, but saw its eight-match win streak come to an end at the hands of No. 12 Minnesota in Saturday night's 3-0 (17-25, 18-25, 19-25) loss in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Minnesota (8-1) took home top honors at the 13th Annual Duke Invitational after posting a perfect 3-0 record, including the deciding win over Duke in the tournament finale. The Blue Devils (8-2) posted three consecutive sweeps during their eight-match win streak before the Golden Gophers ended the run and handed Duke its first loss in Cameron Indoor Stadium since Oct. 10, 2009.

"We're certainly disappointed with the outcome tonight, but at the same time I know we're going to get better and stronger as a team as a result of this match," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "We didn't play with the type of communication that I've seen us compete with over the last couple of weeks, and that is one of the areas we'll focus on going forward as we head into conference play."

Blue Devil sophomore middle blocker Christiana Gray and freshman libero Ali McCurdy were selected to the Duke Invitational All-Tournament Team after leading Duke to 3-0 wins over Delaware (6-3) and N.C. Central (1-8). Gray hit .517 with 17 kills in Duke's three victories and hit no less than .500 in every match. McCurdy collected 48 digs and averaged 5.33 digs per set after posting 29 digs in Friday night's 3-0 sweep over Delaware.

Minnesota had the two tournament leaders in kills with Ashley Wittman posting a tournament-high 41 and teammate Tabi Love behind her with 39. Both Wittman and Love were named to the all-tournament team along with their libero Jessica Granquist. Joining the Minnesota trio on the all-tournament team were N.C. Central outside hitter Belinda Behncke-Biney and Delaware outside hitter Kattie Dennehy.

Wittman and Love combined for 25 of Minnesota's 42 kills in the win over Duke while Granquist collected 19 digs to help keep the Blue Devil offense in check. Only Gray was able to consistently hit past Minnesota's taller defensive front, as the sophomore middle blocker went 7-for-12 with a .500 hitting percentage.

Against N.C. Central in the morning session, Duke senior Becci Burling posted 12 kills on 24 attacks in the 3-0 win while middle blockers Amanda Robertson and Chelsea Cook both turned in errorless performances. Robertson finished 7-for-9 with a .778 hitting percentage while Cook played in all three games and finished a perfect 6-for-6.

Duke held N.C. Central to a -.062 hitting percentage, marking the seventh time this season that the Blue Devils held an opponent under .200 hitting. Robertson, McCurdy and Claire Smalzer all helped out in the defensive effort as Robertson posted 10 digs, Smalzer posted nine and McCurdy collected eight.

Kellie Catanach and Alex Sall split setting duties against N.C. Central as each posted 15 assists in the win. Sall saw over 50 percent of her sets go down for kills, while Catanach finished over 40 percent for the eighth straight match. Catanach also became the sixth player in Duke history to surpass 3,000 career assists and currently boasts 3,031 in her three-year career.

Among other outstanding performers for the Blue Devils were junior Sophia Dunworth who averaged 3.00 kills and 3.33 digs for the tournament, Smalzer who collected 30 digs and Catanach who posted 83 assists.

Up next for Duke is the ACC opener against Wake Forest on Friday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils have won three straight against the Demon Deacons and six straight home matches in the series.