Duke Falls at No. 10 SMU

Friday, November 8

Dallas, TX

8 PM

Duke University

9-15,5-8ACC

SMU

18-6,10-3ACC

Duke

SMU

Photo by: Duke Athletics

11/8/2024 9:38:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

DALLAS – The Duke volleyball team was swept 3-0 (16-25, 18-25, 22-25) by No. 10 SMU Friday evening at Moody Coliseum.

Offensively, Duke was led by Kerry Keefe with a match-high 18 kills while Grace Penn tallied 26 assists. Libero Mailinh Godschall added 15 digs.

The Mustangs held Duke to a .220 hitting percentage while hitting .389 themselves. SMU finished with eight blocks to Duke's one, its fewest in a match since 2021. The Mustangs also tallied seven service aces to the Blue Devils' three.

How it Happened

The first set was even at 4-4 before a three-point run by SMU opened a lead it would not relinquish. The Mustang advantage was never less than two points for the remainder of the set.
- Duke scored consecutive points just twice after tallying its first two of the set and did not have a run of three-straight points during the set.
- SMU was aided by its .455 hitting percentage and three service aces during the set.
SMU kept the pressure on in the second set with an early 3-1 lead, but Duke answered to go ahead 4-3. The set featured ties at 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6 before the Blue Devils edged out front 8-6.
- From there, however, the Mustangs pulled ahead for good with a seven-point spurt to gain a 13-8 lead.
- The advantage got as large as 20-10 for SMU before a mini-Duke run made it 23-17. The Mustangs closed it out with a block and kill.
Duke jumped out to leads of 4-2, 5-3 and 7-4 in the third set. SMU cut the deficit to 8-7, but the Blue Devils responded with three consecutive points to push their lead to 11-7. From there, however, the Mustangs ran off a 10-4 sprint to go ahead 17-15.
- Duke used consecutive Rachel Richardson and Kerry Keefe kills to go up 20-19 and force an SMU timeout, but the Mustangs stormed out of the break with six of the match's final eight points.

Notables

Duke falls to 9-15 overall and 5-8 in the ACC.
It was the first victory for SMU in the series as Duke had won the previous two contests – in 2001 and 2005.
Junior Kerry Keefe tallied her 17th match of the season with double-digit kills, 11 during ACC play.
Keefe has 10+ kills in six consecutive matches.
Graduate Grace Penn recorded her 15th match of the year with 20 or more assists. In her last three matches, Penn has 122 assists (40.67 assists/match).
Duke moves to 0-5 against ranked foes this season.
SMU out-blocked Duke, 8-1.
Duke's one block is its fewest in a contest since one versus Miami on October 8, 2021.

Next Match

Duke closes out the weekend and stays on the road with a trip to No. 1 Pitt. First serve is set for 1 p.m. Sunday on ACC Network Extra.

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

Duke Centennial
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