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| DUKE (5-3, 0-0 ACC) | ||||||||||||
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| Roster | ||||||||||||
| Coaches | ||||||||||||
| Stats | ||||||||||||
| Schedule & Results | ||||||||||||
| Notes | ||||||||||||
| THE SCHEDULE | ||||||||||||
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| Duke vs. No. 20 Michigan |
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| When: Sept. 18 | 6:30 p.m. (EDT) | ||||||||||||
| Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium | ||||||||||||
| Watch: BDN+ | Live Stats | ||||||||||||
| Duke vs. Michigan State | ||||||||||||
| When: Sept. 19 | 6:30 p.m. (EDT) | ||||||||||||
| Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium | ||||||||||||
| Watch: BDN+ | Live Stats | ||||||||||||
| CONNECT | ||||||||||||
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| @Duke_VB | ||||||||||||
| /DukeVolleyball | ||||||||||||
| @Duke_VB | ||||||||||||
Leading Off
Duke is in the midst of a six-match home streak as the Blue Devils play host to No. 20 Michigan and Michigan State Friday, Sept. 18 and Saturday, Sept. 19 ... Part of the ACC/B1G Challenge, both contests will start at 6:30 p.m., in Cameron Indoor Stadium ... Live video coverage of both matches is available to BDN+ subscribers via GoDuke.com.
Last Time Out
The Blue Devils split their first two home matches of the season, falling in five sets to No. 3 Stanford before sweeping UNC Wilmington ... After missing four matches due to injury, senior outside hitter Emily Sklar knocked down a career-high 27 kills against the Cardinal while also adding 12 digs ... Redshirt senior setter Maggie Deichmeister topped 60 assists for the second time in her career, dishing out 62 ... Junior libero Sasha Karelov picked up 29 digs and freshman defensive specialist Kelli Kalinoski added a career-best 26 to bolster the Duke backline ... Freshman middle blocker Leah Meyer put down a career-high 17 kills in Duke's straight set victory over UNC Wilmington Saturday ... Sklar turned in her second consecutive double-double, chipping in 13 kills and 10 digs.
Duke vs. Michigan
Duke and Michigan have faced off in two of the past three seasons and reunite for the second straight season in 2015 ... The Wolverines own a 3-1 advantage in the all-time series ... The Blue Devils are in search of their first win in the series since 1993 ... Duke and Michigan have played to five sets in each of their past two meetings, both in Ann Arbor, Mich ... This past season, the two teams traded sets before Michigan came away with the 3-2 decision ... Jeme Obeime downed a career-high 21 kills, but Duke was plagued by 20 service errors ... Michigan's Abby Cole led her team with 15 kills, followed by Caroline Knop with 14.
Duke vs. Michigan State
Duke and Michigan State take the court for the third time in program history Saturday ... The two teams split their first two meetings as MSU won the inaugural content 3-2 in 1997 and Duke captured the five-set decision in 2014 ... In last year's contest, Emily Sklar and Jordan Tucker added 10 kills each to help Duke rally from a 2-1 deficit heading to the fourth frame ... The Spartans' Allyssah Fitterer led all players with 14 kills.
Duke Leads League in Kills per Set
Duke enters the weekend averaging 14.46 kills per set to the lead the ACC ... That clip is also good for 14th in the country ... Five Blue Devils average over 2.00 kills per frame: Emily Sklar (4.06), Leah Meyer (2.96), Jordan Tucker (2.18), Breanna Atkinson (2.13) and Alyse Whitaker (2.07) ... Sklar currently ranks second in the ACC in kills per set and is one of just two league players to have knocked down over 4.00 kills per frame.
Meyer Makes an Impact
Freshman middle blocker Leah Meyer is off to a strong start to begin her collegiate career ... She currently leads the team in kills (83), hitting percentage (.396), total blocks (26) and blocks per set (0.93) ... She also ranks sixth in the conference and 57th nationally in hitting percentage ... Meyer is the one of just two ACC freshmen to hit higher than .320 on the season (Blayke Hranicka - NC State).
Meyer Named ACC Freshman of the Week
Middle blocker Leah Meyer garnered ACC Freshman of the Week honors Sept. 7 after collecting Kansas Invitational All-Tournament Team accolades ... She led the team with 31 kills at the tournament ... Meyer hit .431 and posted hitting percentages of .391 or higher in all three matches ... Meyer's ACC Freshman of the Week honor was the first for a Blue Devil since Jordan Tucker earned the distinction Dec. 2, 2013.
Sklar Climbs Career List
After totaling 38 kills this past weekend, including a career-high 27 against No. 3 Stanford, senior outside hitter Emily Sklar moved up one spot to No. 12 on the program's career kills list ... Sklar needs just 25 more kills to crack the top 10 ... For her career, she has averaged 3.70 kills per set and turned in a .240 hitting percentage.
Sklar Named Senior CLASS Award Candidate
Outside hitter Emily Sklar was named to the Senior CLASS Award candidate list, which recognizes 30 NCAA women's volleyball student-athletes who excel both on and off the court ... A two-time AVCA All-American and 2013 ACC Player of the Year, Sklar has played all six rotations for the Blue Devils since her freshman season ... A team captain, she is pursuing a degree in psychology with a minor in English.
Sklar Travels to World University Games
Senior Emily Sklar accepted an invitation to represent the United States at the World University Games July 3-14 in Gwangju City, South Korea ... Sklar is no stranger to international volleyball ... She joined the U.S. Junior A1 International Team in Pula, Croatia for the 9th Annual Global Challenge following her freshman year ... In the summer of 2014, Sklar journeyed to China with the U.S. Collegiate National Team for matches against the Chinese Junior National Team and various Chinese professional teams.
Devilish Defense
The Blue Devils lead the ACC and rank 18th nationally in digs per set (17.00) thanks in large part to the efforts of libero Sasha Karelov and defensive specialists Kelli Kalinoski and Nicole Elattrache ... All three players average more than 2.30 digs per set ... In addition, outside hitter Emily Sklar picks up 2.75 digs per frame ... Those four players average nearly 13 digs per set combined ... As a team, Duke has limited its opponents to a .173 hitting percenteage ... The Blue Devils have held five oppoents to a clip under .200 this season, including two under .100.
Karelov Approaches 1,000 Career Digs
Junior libero Sasha Karelov enters the weekend with 951 career digs, 49 shy of 1,000 ... She begins the weekend averaging 3.80 digs per set for her career, good for seventh all-time at Duke ... Karelov currently ranks fourth in the ACC and 88th in the country with a 4.54 digs per set average.
Deichmeister Among Duke Assist Leaders
Redshirt senior Maggie Deichmeister continues to climb the Duke career assist charts ... She enters the weekend with 2,171 career assists and a 9.36 assist per set average, good for 10th and ninth in program history, respectively ... Deichmeister is the 10th setter in program history to top 2,000 career assists ... She dished out a season-high 62 assists versus No. 3 Stanford Sept. 11, marking the second time in her career she has topped the 60-assist plateau.
Vucich Tabbed to USA HP Elite Ten Team
Senior Christina Vucich trained with the top collegiate beach players in the country the past two summers, earning a spot on the USA Volleyball U23 High Performance Elite 10 National Team in 2014 and 2015 ... The Elite Ten teams are comprised of 10 athletes per gender and age group ... The U23 squad trained in California and competed at the USA HP Championship in Hermosa Beach, Calif.
Duke in the ACC
Duke was picked to finished third in the conference in 2015 according to a vote of the league's 15 head coaches ... Three Blue Devils -- senior outside hitter Emily Sklar, junior middle blocker Jordan Tucker and junior libero Sasha Karelov -- garnered 2015 Preseason All-ACC honors ... The Blue Devils compiled a 14-4 ACC record and finished third in the league standings behind Florida State and North Carolina in 2014 ... Duke led the league in three statistical categories: assists per set, kills per set and digs per set.
Sustained Success
Duke put together a 22-8 campaign in 2014, marking the 26th time in the program's 44-year history that the Blue Devils topped 20 wins ... Duke has surpassed 20 wins in nine of the past 10 seasons, winning 25 or more matches in six of the past eight campaigns ... In 16 seasons under head coach Jolene Nagel, Duke has won 20 or more matches 13 times and 25-plus six times.
Related Links
MGoBlue.com: Wolverines to Conclude Non-Conference Action in North Carolina
MSUSpartans.com: Spartans Take Part in Big Ten/ACC Challenge
#GoDuke
