Duke Outlasts Notre Dame in Five-Set Thriller, Owokoniran Reaches 1,000 Kills

Friday, October 29

Durham, N.C.

5 PM

Duke University

13-9,4-7ACC

Notre Dame

9-12,6-5ACC

Notre Dame

Duke

Duke Outlasts Notre Dame in Five-Set Thriller, Owokoniran Reaches 1,000 Kills

10/29/2021 9:18:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

DURHAM – The Duke volleyball team outlasted Notre Dame, 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 17-25, 25-22, 15-10), in a five-set marathon match Friday evening at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

With the victory, the Blue Devils improve to 13-9 (4-7 ACC) as the Fighting Irish drop to 9-12 (6-5 ACC).

[I'm] really excited for this team and happy they found a way," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "We were aggressive and kept punching. [I'm] very proud of their resilience and perseverance. A total team effort with an all-in mentality to get this one."

The Blue Devils were led offensively by senior Ade Owokoniran and junior Lizzie Fleming as the duo combined for 37 kills.

Owokoniran tallied a whopping 23 kills and just three errors on 52 attempts to hit .385 percent in five sets and became the 27th Blue Devil to reach the 1,000-kill plateau. The Raleigh native tallied 13 kills and no errors through two sets as she hit .538 and .600, respectively, and dominated the outside. Her 23 kills tonight was her most since October 18, 2019, and now owns 1,021 career kills.

Fleming hit an impressive .522 percent with a tied for career-high 14 kills. Junior setter Camille Nazor dished a career-high 40 assists while libero Mackenzie Cole tied her career high in digs with 29. Defensively, junior Gracie Johnson added 17 digs while rookie Rachel Richardson notched 10. At the net, the Blue Devils recorded an outstanding 28 blocks for 14.0 total blocks, led by Fleming with a career-high eight, Lily Cooper with six and Nazor and Owokoniran both with five.

Duke's all-around performance also included eight aces as Mackenzie Cole and Johnson each recorded three.

Duke was on top first to lead 1-0 after the first frame as the team hit .275 percent and defensively limited Notre Dame to a .093 clip with 21 digs and six blocks.

The Blue Devils opened the second frame with three straight blocks as Fleming got a hand in each. Johnson tallied her second ace of the outing and gave Duke a 14-10 edge to keep Notre Dame on its heels, but a couple of Blue Devil setting errors allowed the Fighting Irish to work back into the match.

Duke struggled to find its offensive rhythm in the third frame as the match was tied at 1-1, but rookie Richardson provided a big spark off the bench as she added six kills in the fourth to help force a fifth set.

Nagel's squad held a majority of the momentum in the fifth frame as Owokoniran added five kills while Mackenzie Cole's back-to-back aces to give Duke a 14-7 lead helped the Blue Devils secure the win.

Notre Dame saw three in double-digit kills, led by Caroline Meuth with 16. Setter Zoe Nunez dished 38 assists while libero Hattie Monson added 26 digs in the setback.

Duke will face No. 2 Louisville Sunday for a 1 p.m., match on ACCNX.

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

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