Duke Pushes No. 16 Georgia Tech to Five Sets in Narrow Defeat

Friday, November 1

Durham, N.C.

6:30 PM

Duke University

8-14,4-7ACC

Georgia Tech

16-4,8-3ACC

Georgia Tech

Duke

Kerry Keefe topped Duke with 21 kills and a career-best 24 digs as the junior registered her first collegiate 20-20 performance.

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke Pushes No. 16 Georgia Tech to Five Sets in Narrow Defeat

11/1/2024 11:03:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke volleyball team pushed No. 16 Georgia Tech to five sets and forced the Yellow Jackets to rally for a narrow 3-2 victory (25-20, 18-25, 25-20, 21-25, 16-14) on Friday evening at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Kerry Keefe led the charge for Duke with 21 kills and a career-best 24 digs as the junior registered her first collegiate 20-20 performance. Three other Blue Devils collected double-digit kills, with Taylor Williams posting 13 kills and three block assists, Ngozi Iloh tallying 12 kills and five block assists, and Rachel Richardson adding 10 kills.

Duke setter Grace Penn distributed a match-high 50 assists, while also contributing 14 digs and three service aces. Freshman defensive specialist Mailinh Godschall amassed a match-high and season-best 37 digs.

The Yellow Jackets were led by Tamara Otene with 27 kills and 21 digs.

Georgia Tech improves to 16-4 overall and 8-3 in the ACC, while the Blue Devils are now 8-14 overall and 4-7 in conference play.

How it Happened

The first set was a roller coaster ride with neither team leading by more than two points until Georgia Tech pulled ahead 18-15.
Duke pulled to within one point at 21-20, before the Yellow Jackets won four straight points, including the final three courtesy of kills by Tamara Otene, to take the first set, 25-20.
In the second set, the Blue Devils raced out to a 6-1 advantage and pushed the cushion to 10-2 after back-to-back kills by Kerry Keefe.
Georgia Tech went on a 10-4 run to pull to within two points, 14-12, but Duke responded with an 11-6 burst to even the match at one set apiece.
The Blue Devils recorded a hitting percentage of .300 in the second set, with 17 kills (eight by Keefe) on 40 attempts and just five errors.
After splitting the first 14 points of the third set, Georgia Tech scored four straight points to take an 11-7 lead.
Duke pulled to within two points late in the set, 20-18, but the Yellow Jackets never relinquished the advantage, taking the third set, 25-20.
The Blue Devils jumped out in the fourth set, leading 5-1 and 11-5, before Georgia Tech slowly battled back to even the score at 13-13.
The Yellow Jackets took the lead, 14-13, but Duke grabbed the momentum with seven unanswered points for a 20-14 advantage that resulted in a 25-21 set win to even the match.
In the fifth and deciding set, Duke used another seven-point rally to take a 10-3 lead.
The Blue Devils cushion was 11-4 when Georgia Tech went on a seven-point spurt of its own to even the score, 11-11.
Duke responded with three straight points to move ahead 14-11.
The Yellow Jackets closed the match by tallying five consecutive points to secure the ACC road victory.

Notables

Friday was the first five-set match in series between Duke and Georgia Tech since 2012 - a Duke win in Durham (Oct. 13).
The Blue Devils amassed a season-best 114 digs, far surpassing the prior standard of 89 digs at Wake Forest on Oct. 11. It is the first time Duke has reached the century mark in digs since Nov. 10, 2019, with 101 versus NC State.
Duke's eight team blocks matches a season high, equaling the number posted at North Carolina on Oct. 4.
Kerry Keefe's 21 kills and 24 digs represents the first 20-20 performance of her three-year Duke career.
Friday was the fourth time this season Keefe has accumulated 20 or more kills.
Grace Penn's 50 assists against the Yellow Jackets is the third time the graduate transfer has reached the 50-assist mark in the past 10 matches.
Mailinh Godschall amassed a season-best 37 digs, exceeding her prior high of 27 digs versus LSU on Sept. 5. Godschall is now the fifth Blue Devil to tally 37 kills in a match and the first to do so since Sasha Karelov broke the school record with 44 digs at Notre Dame in 2016.

Quote

"Our team did a lot of good things tonight. We're not satisfied in any way, but our team competed and played hard. We had a hard week of practice and the team stepped up for that, so it was exciting to see them put it out on the floor tonight." - Duke head coach Jolene Nagel

Up Next

Duke returns to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 3 at 1 p.m., to host Clemson. The match will broadcast 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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