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Friday, October 7
Blacksburg, Va.
7:00 PM
Duke University
3
at
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Virginia Tech
Duke Fights Back for 3-2 Win over Virginia Tech
10/7/2011 10:15:00 PM | Volleyball
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The Duke volleyball team rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win sets four and five and secure a 3-2 (16-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-17, 15-10) road victory over Virginia Tech on Friday night in Cassel Coliseum.
The Blue Devils (9-6, 3-3 ACC) used an all-around team effort and got production from every player on the court. All-American setter Kellie Catanach notched her team-leading seventh double-double of the year with 47 assists and 10 digs and helped Duke overcome poor hitting performances in the first three sets to hit a combined .356 over the final two frames.
"We really hung tough to be able to get the win tonight," Duke head coach Jolene Nagel said. "We started off not controlling the ball very well, and we couldn't get our offense going. We settled down later and started getting a lot better ball control on our first touches.
"I thought Kellie did a great job of trying to mix things up offensively. Our blocking was better than it has been, and even though we didn't block a lot of balls, we touched enough to give ourselves a chance defensively."
Catanach and All-ACC middle blocker Christiana Gray were nearly unstoppable, as Gray went 17-for-24 attacking with only three attack errors. Gray's .583 hitting percentage marked the fifth time in Duke's last six matches that the 6-5 middle blocker has hit .400 or better. Catanach kept Virginia Tech off balance and dropped in six kills without an attack error.
The Hokies zeroed in on Duke right side hitter Amanda Robertson, limiting her to seven kills, but that opened up windows for senior Sophia Dunworth, who put away 15 kills, and freshman Jeme Obeime who went 10-for-20 in one of her best road matches of the season. Middle blocker Chelsea Cook also added six kills while playing in all five sets.
Virginia Tech could not match Duke defensively as the Blue Devils out-dug the Hokies 74-51 thanks in large part to All-ACC libero Ali McCurdy, who racked up a season-high 32 digs and 18 errorless service receptions. The Hokies hit just .184 for the match and had only Cara Baarendse in double figures with 16 kills. The rest of Virginia Tech's lineup managed a meager .120 hitting percentage.
Facing elimination in set four, Duke found itself down 7-6 early, but rallied battled to take a slim 12-11 lead. The Blue Devils then staked a 5-1 run that included kills from Dunworth, Obeime and Cook to build a 17-12 lead. Duke cruised from there and got three straight points from Gray on two kills and a block to close out the set.
With the score knotted up at two sets apiece, Virginia Tech stunned Duke by jumping out to a 3-0 lead in set five. The Hokies opened that run with a pair of blocks, but the Blue Devils wrestled the momentum back over to their side of the court when Obeime connected for two straight kills. That was just enough of a momentum swing to spark a 6-3 run that put Duke on top 9-6. From there, the Blue Devils used four more kills and two Hokie errors to close out the match.
Duke continues its weekend ACC road trip on Saturday with a 7 p.m. match against Virginia in Charlottesville.
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