Duke Falls 3-0 At No. 9 UCLA To End NCAA Tournament Run

Saturday, December 6

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 PM (PT)

Duke University

No. 9 UCLA (Round 2)

Duke Falls 3-0 At No. 9 UCLA To End NCAA Tournament Run

12/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

By: Duke Sports Information

LOS ANGELES ? The ninth-ranked UCLA Bruins knocked off the Duke volleyball team 3-0 (26-16, 26-19, 25-17) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday evening in Pauley Pavilion, ending Duke's run in the tournament after the Blue Devils upset 25th-ranked San Francisco in the first round on Friday.

UCLA (22-10) used nine blocks to keep Duke' s offense in check and received a 13-kill effort from sophomore outside hitter Dicey McGraw that included a .278 hitting percentage and three blocks.

McGraw and fellow outside hitter Ali Daley (10) reached double-digit kills, and the towering middle-blocking combo of Katie Camp and Amanda Gil combined for seven assisted blocks. Camp, at 6-5, and Gil, at 6-6, also combined for 13 kills.

Duke junior Rachael Moss managed to sneak 11 kills past the Bruins and collected 14 digs for her fifth straight double-double. Moss, who averaged 3.38 kills and 3.88 digs for the tournament, had a double-double in each match and a team-high 30.5 points for the tournament.

Sophomore Becci Burling also had another productive night on the offensive end for Duke (25-9) with nine kills and a pair of blocks, giving her 24 kills and six stops for the tournament. A 6-1 middle blocker, Burling hit .345 in Duke's two matches and made just five attack errors in Duke's eight tournament sets.

Duke started out strong on the defensive end, holding the Bruins to a .184 hitting percentage in the first set, but eventually gave way to the UCLA offense. The Bruins ended the match by hitting .423 in the final set. Duke still managed to match UCLA with 63 digs for an average of 21 per set with libero Claire Smalzer picking up 18 of those and senior Aana Wherry collecting 11. Duke also totaled 6.5 blocks with four coming from Norman, two each from Burling, Moss and Sophia Dunworth and one apiece from Catanach and senior Sue Carls.

Duke put up a strong effort in the opening set and held the Bruins to a .184 hitting percentage, but could not match the performance on the offensive end and fell 25-16. Duke put back three blocks ? including two each from Burling and Moss ? and got nine digs out of Smalzer, but hit just .098. The Blue Devils opened the first frame by holding just UCLA to just five kills on the first 18 attacks to stake a 9-6 lead. The Blue Devils hit .455 during those first nine points before UCLA finally got back on track and went on a 9-1 run to claim their first lead of the afternoon. The turnaround came in part from the play of UCLA's Spicer, who dished out four assists as part of a 5-0 rally early in the run. Trailing 15-10, Duke called a timeout, but it did little to kill UCLA's momentum as the Bruins came out of the break with 3-1 run to jump ahead 19-11. Though trailing by eight, Duke battled back with three consecutive hard-earned points to cut the deficit to 19-14. All three of the scores came on UCLA attack errors after Duke saved several Bruin attacks from touching the floor. But five points would be the closest Duke came to retaking the lead, as UCLA closed out the set with a 6-2 run to clinch the opener.

Duke came out swinging again in the second set and took an early lead, but once again gave way to a big UCLA run that gave the Bruins a big enough cushion to hold on for an 25-19 win. UCLA managed to put together a 9-1 run early in the set to jump ahead 14-7, which proved to be just enough to fight off a late rally by Duke. The Blue Devils called a timeout following the run and outscored the Bruins 12-11 over the remainder of the set, but could not make up the difference before falling into a 2-0 hole. UCLA's block gave Duke fits on the offensive end as the Blue Devils hit just -.020, marking the first time since Nov. 13 and the fourth time all season that Duke hit for a negative percentage in a set. Camp and Gil teamed up for both of UCLA's blocks in set two, while McGraw added four more kills to her match total.

After managing a .198 hitting percentage for the first two sets, UCLA's offense finally broke out in the final frame and hit .423 with just three attack errors to take the third set 25-17 and the match 3-0. Setter Nellie Spicer saw 13 of her 20 sets go down for kills, which was just enough to outpace an 11-assist performance from Catanach and a five-kill outing from Burling. The Bruins took an early 9-4 lead, but could never run away with the match as Duke fought back to come within one point of tying it at 14-13. The 9-5 run from the Blue Devils included three kills from Burling, five assists from Catanach and a service ace from Smalzer, which was Duke's first of the match. But despite the rally, UCLA never relinquished the lead and outscored Duke 11-4 for the rest of the match to hold on for the win.

The loss signals the end of Duke's run in the NCAA Tournament and the conclusion of the Blue Devils' 2008 season. Seniors Sue Carls, Jourdan Norman and Aana Wherry will leave the program after leading it to four straight NCAA Tournaments, two ACC Championships and a combined four-year record of 103-28.

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