Duke Takes Down Syracuse on the Road in Five

Sunday, October 6

Syracuse, N.Y.

1 pm

Duke University

7-9

Syracuse

4-7

Duke

Syracuse

Duke Takes Down Syracuse on the Road in Five

10/6/2019 4:40:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Duke Takes Down Syracuse on the Road in Five

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – It was a battle of resiliency Sunday afternoon in New York as the Duke volleyball team defeated Syracuse 3-2 (26-24, 25-22, 19-25, 22-25, 17-15) for Duke's first ACC victory of the season.

The victory snapped a three-match losing streak to the Orange and was highlighted by sophomore Ade Owokoniran's second 20+ kill performance of the season.

"I'm really excited to see this team go on the road and get the win against Syracuse," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "They're a very good team with very experienced players and our team fought through the duration. Our team certainly has continued to work throughout the season but we have had our challenges. I'm really excited that they had the courage today to compete their hardest and get the win. It was a real team effort. We had a lot of adjustments and this team is special in that way. On any given day, it can be someone else out there. Our bench has contributed in big ways and hopefully we can continue moving forward."

Duke was led offensively by Owokoniran with a season-high 22 kills and just five errors to hit .436 percent as the Blue Devils hit .200 for the game. Defensively, libero Mackenzie Cole racked up 19 digs while the Blue Devils were also highly competitive at the net with blocking. Senior Samantha Amos and sophomore Lily Cooper each added eight blocks while rookies Lizzie Fleming and Gracie Johnson added seven and six, respectively.

The Orange is currently third in the ACC with a .257 hitting percentage and were limited to just a .163 cliptoday.

The Blue Devils hit .267 percent in the opening frame with 14 kills and only six errors as Payton Schwantz (4), Cooper (3) and Fleming (3) paced the offense. Cole stepped back to serve as Duke trailed 6-4 early before picking up her 23rd ace of the season. Fleming and Amos were a force at the net as they combined for 6 blocks to limit the Orange to just a .129 clip.

Owokoniran came out strong in the second set with eight kills and zero errors to help pace Duke to take set two. The Blue Devils racked up a 7-1 run to open the second set with kills from Owokoniran, Fleming, Schwantz and Johnson early. Owokoniran found a huge hole in the Orange block to send it down just past the 10-foot line to send her signature celebrations into high gear.

The Orange hit .385 with just four errors in the third as the Blue Devils tallied just a .115 percentage to force a fourth set.

Duke trailed 14-13 in the fourth set before Schwantz knocked down her ninth kill of the contest to tie it up. The Orange committed their second service error of the game before Amos crushed a monster kill down the line from setter Alex Springate for Duke's 19th point of the set. Cooper registered her eighth of the game with back-to-back blocks to even the score at 21 just before Syracuse's Lukacs notched her fourth ace of the game to give the Orange the set.

Two overturned calls later, the Blue Devils secured the five-set victory over the Orange. Schwantz connected on her 12th kill for a slight two-point advantage before three unanswered points from Syracuse to even it up at 10. Syracuse rookie Markova had her 13th kill of the game but the Blue Devils sealed the deal with another Amos/Fleming block to give Duke its first ACC victory of the year.

The Orange were led by Ella Saada and Polina Shemanova with 19 and 18 kills, respectively.

Duke will host Louisville Friday, Oct. 11, before welcoming Louisville Sunday for a 3 p.m., contest on ACC Network.

For more information on Duke volleyball, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeVB". You can also find all-access coverage of all Duke athletic programs on SnapChat by searching for "dukeathletics".

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