Duke Outlasts NC State in Five Set Thriller

Sunday, November 10

Durham, N.C.

1 pm

Duke University

12-15,5-9ACC

NC State

10-16,5-9ACC

NC State

Duke

Duke Outlasts NC State in Five Set Thriller

11/10/2019 5:03:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Duke Outlasts NC State in Five Set Thriller

DURHAM, N.C. – Despite dropping the first two sets, the Duke volleyball team came out victorious on Sunday afternoon by outlasting NC State 3-2 (22-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-22, 15-7) in a five set thriller in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

With the victory, the Blue Devils improve to 12-15 and 5-9 in ACC play as the Wolfpack dip to 10-16 and 5-9 in the conference.

"I'm really proud of our team," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "It was disappointing to see us go down 0-2. I felt like we were doubting ourselves a little bit and we have no need to do that. This was great for this team because we've had the ability to push through and get these five set matches or play a strong fourth set, but we've doubted ourselves at times. Hopefully this will help our team understand that and help us push through with a little more oomph."

Boasted by four players in double-digit kills, Duke was able to get the victory and were led by graduate student Lauren Cline with 20 kills and zero errors to hit a whopping .526 for the match. Cline's 20-kill performance allows her to be just the second Blue Devil with 20+ kills this season while rookie Gracie Johnson added 16 kills herself. Payton Schwantz and Samantha Amos contributed with 11 kills each to help the Blue Devils hit .230 for the match. Setters Sarah Nelson and Camille Nazor dished 22 and 25 assists, respectively.

Defensively, libero Mackenzie Cole added a season-high 28 digs followed behind by Schwantz with 23 to limit the Wolfpack to a .173 hitting clip for the match. Duke was also unstoppable at the net with 38 total blocks (19.0 total team blocks) to NC State 16 and were led by freshman Lizzie Fleming with 13 and Cline with nine.

With the win, Duke moves to 3-1 this season in five-set matches.

The first two frames were absolute battles with 12 and eight tied scores, respectively, and both were hitting hit as the Blue Devils hit .233 in the first and .220 in the second to NC State's .250 and .295, respectively.

Despite dropping the first two, Duke bounced back with a 25-18 win in the third as NC State hit just .054 percent with nine errors. In the fourth frame, both teams were solid and emotions were running high and Duke used a 6-4 blocking advantage to help secure a 25-22 set victory to force a decisive fifth set.

The Blue Devils absolutely dominated in the fifth and final frame with a 6-0 run coming out of the gate. Schwantz and Fleming connected on a huge block on the left side to start before Fleming and Cline followed it up with a block on the right side. A bad pass by NC State set Cline up perfectly to slam it home to the 10 ft. line and helped Duke hit .500 percent with 10 kills and no errors to take the match.

NC State was led by four in double digit kills: Melissa Evans (19), Jade Parchment (17), Jessica Kemp (16) and Lydia Adam (10). As a team, the Wolfpack hit .173 percent.

Duke will remain in Durham for its last home game to take on No. 2 Pitt Saturday, Nov. 16 at 1 p.m., for Senior Day.

For more information on Duke volleyball, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeVB".

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