No. 14 Duke Takes Down UNC, 3-1

Sunday, October 11

Chapel Hill, NC

5:30 PM

Duke University

4-1,4-1ACC

North Carolina

2-2,2-2ACC

Duke

North Carolina

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

No. 14 Duke Takes Down UNC, 3-1

10/11/2020 9:09:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The 14th-ranked Duke volleyball team bounced back from Friday evening with a 3-1 (25-21, 24-26, 25-18, 25-21) victory over North Carolina Sunday night in Carmichael Arena.

With the win, the Blue Devils improve to 4-1 overall and in conference play as the Tar Heels even out at 2-2. The Blue Devils snapped a four-match losing streak against the Tar Heels.

"I think we're just really working on trying to get better as a team," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "Each individual player has gotten better and better as an individual. I think it's definitely paying off in the culture of our team and in our commitment to our team with each other. That comes out on the volleyball court as well. Our bench tonight was so locked in with communicating with the team out there on the court, on talking about what was going on in every rotation and celebrating with them. Our bench was a huge help to us tonight."

Senior Payton Schwantz and junior Ade Owokoniran combined for over half of Duke's total kills with 26, as Schwantz hit a whopping .500 percent with 16 kills and just two errors. Schwantz picked up her second double-double of the season with 14 digs while Owokoniran registered her third double-double and second straight with 10 kills and 10 digs.

Defensively, Duke had a stellar performance at the net with 12.0 total team blocks. The Blue Devils' blocking efforts were led by sophomore Lizzie Fleming and junior Lily Cooper with eight and seven blocks, respectively. Cooper picked up two solo blocks to help limit the Tar Heels to just a .088 hitting percentage for the match.

Setters Camille Nazor and Alex Springate dished 21 and 20 dimes, respectively, while libero Mackenzie Cole racked up 19 digs to pace the Duke defense.

Duke came out hot in the first set, hitting .600 percent with zero errors through the middle of the set. The Blue Devils led by as many as seven (23-16) before a 4-0 Tar Heel run to force Duke into a timeout. Fleming's third kill of the match put Duke ahead 1-0 as the Blue Devils hit .438 as a team to North Carolina's .139 percent.

Schwantz was sensational in the opening stanza, leading the team with five kills and zero errors to hit an impressive .714 percent.

The second set featured 10 tied scores and six lead changes as the Tar Heels ultimately took the frame. Cooper registered two solo blocks in the middle, but Duke was unable to hold off the Heels. The set was tied at 24-24 before North Carolina's Ryan Shannon collected an ace, followed by Kaya Merkler and Austin Parker teaming up for a double block to take the second frame.

Rookie Georgia Stavrinides had a strong third set off the bench for the Blue Devils. She picked up two kills, two blocks and two service aces, including the set-winning ace that gave Duke a 2-1 lead into the fourth. Stavrinides ended the match hitting .400 percent with three kills and three blocks.

Duke combined for 4.0 team blocks in the fourth set as Cooper picked up three on her own while Cooper and Fleming combined for 15 blocks for the match. The fourth was tied at 21-21 before North Carolina made its seventh service error of the evening and Duke forced the Tar Heels into a timeout after another block from Cooper and Owokoniran. A net violation for North Carolina gave Duke its fourth dub of the fall season as North Carolina hit .000 percent in the fourth.

The Tar Heels were led by Destiny Cox with 19 kills to hit .283 percent as the Tar Heels hit just .088 percent as a team.

Duke will return to competition Saturday, Oct. 23 and 24 to take on Virginia Tech in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

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

#GoDuke