No. 18 Duke Rallies for 3-1 Win Over Pacific

Thursday, September 1

Stockton, Calif.

8:00 PM

Duke University

Pacific

No. 18 Duke Rallies for 3-1 Win Over Pacific

9/1/2011 10:39:00 PM | Volleyball

By: Duke Sports Information

STOCKTON, Calif. - Duke freshman Jeme Obeime continued her hot start to the season and put down a team-leading 15 kills to lead No. 18 Duke past Pacific 3-1 (26-24, 15-25, 25-19, 25-11) on Thursday evening in the Alex G. Spanos Center.

Obeime, a 5-10 outside hitter from Carmel, Ind. (Brebeuf Jesuit), had eight of her kills over the final two sets and now leads the Blue Devils (4-0) with 50 kills. The reigning ACC Freshman of the Week, Obeime went 15-for-31 with just three attack errors and a .387 hitting percentage.

In Duke's first road match of the season, senior outside hitters Kayla Kirk and Sophia Dunworth also came through in the clutch, combining for 13 kills over the final two games. Kirk hit .438 and Dunworth hit .400, and behind their efforts, the Blue Devils overcame a second-set loss to post dominant wins of 25-19 in game three and 25-11 in game four.

All-America setter Kellie Catanach directed the Duke offense to a .278 hitting percentage with 46 assists and managed to sneak in four kills without making an attack error. The 6-2 senior also helped out defensively and recorded her second double-double of the year with 15 digs.

"Our serving was pretty strong tonight, and we dug a lot of balls," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "Ali (McCurdy) had 20 digs, she dug some really hard balls and Nailah (Waterfield) got us a lot of digs in her rotations.

That first game, we just weren't playing defense. Pacific was outserving us and making us struggle in our serve receive. They were way more aggressive on offense than we were, and that was really obvious in game two."

The Tigers (3-1) came out strong in their home gym, hitting .304 in the opening set and .429 in the second set. Duke's defense locked down after the second set loss, however, and held Pacific to a .154 hitting percentage the rest of the way.

"We had to talk about blocking a little bit so we could get more touches on the ball," Nagel said. "Once we started to be more aggressive and pursue rather than being on our heels, we really started to play a lot better."

Junior middle blocker Christiana Gray anchored Duke's defense at the net and piled up a team-high three blocks while also contributing nine kills. She had three kills in a momentum-swinging third set win and slowed down Pacific's attacking duo of Samantha Misa and Hanna Levanen with a strong block. The victory comes in Duke's first road match of the season against a team that was previously undefeated.

"There was a great atmosphere in here with Pacific's band and all of their good crowd support. This was a very well-run event and great for our team to be in that environment as we get started on this trip. We knew Pacific would be a tough team, and they were. We really had to work and communicate out there and work together in order to get through it."

Duke will continue its three-match gauntlet in the Golden State on Friday against St. Mary's in the first match of the Stanford Invitational. The Blue Devils will then square off against the No. 6 Stanford Cardinal on Saturday at 8 p.m.

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