Duke Defeated At Hands Of No. 13 Middle Tennessee

Saturday, September 13

Arlington, Texas

7:30 p.m. (CST)

Duke University

Middle Tennessee State

Duke Falls 3-0 At North Carolina In Defensive Struggle

Duke Defeated At Hands Of No. 13 Middle Tennessee

9/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

By: Duke Sports Information

ARLINGTON, TEXAS ? No. 13 Middle Tennessee overcame a 2-0 deficit and won three straight sets to defeat the Duke volleyball team 3-2 (20-25, 15-25, 25-14, 25-22, 15-9) in the final match at the Hilton Invitational on Saturday in Texas Hall. Duke's Jourdan Norman and Rachael Moss were named to the Hilton Invitational All-Tournament team.

After dropping the first two sets to Duke (6-3, 0-0 ACC), the Blue Raiders (9-0) hit .508 in sets three and four with just five attack errors to fight off elimination and force a final fifth set. The teams battled to a 5-5 tie in the fifth set, but Middle Tennessee broke out with a 6-1 run to go ahead 11-6 and held off a late Duke rally to clinch the match with a 15-9 win.

Middle Tennessee outhit Duke .346 to .245 in the match thanks to a 66-assist effort from setter Leslie Clark. Izabela Kozon was the main beneficiary of Clark's production, leading the Blue Raiders with 22 kills and a .513 hitting percentage. Ashley Mead and Ashley Asberry also took advantage with Mead connecting on 21 of her 42 attacks and Asberry coming through on 15 of her 29 attempts.

The Blue Raiders struggled to find an answer to Duke's offense in the first two sets and allowed the Blue Devils to hit over .450 in each frame. That changed beginning in the third set, however, when Middle Tennessee came out after an intermission to hold Duke to a .161 clip on just eight kills.

Three Blue Devils reached double digits in the match, including Norman who led the team with 13 kills and a .632 hitting percentage. Norman also added eight blocks to run her career total to 522 which is just 32 stops shy of becoming Duke's all-time leader in the category.

Norman's classmate Sue Carls turned in 11 kills on 18 errorless attacks for a .611 hitting percentage while Moss trailed with 10 kills and eight digs. Setter Kellie Catanach tossed up 48 assists to go with 11 digs for a double-double while Becci Burling was on the attacking end for nine kills and Sophia Dunworth chipped in eight.

Duke opened its upset bid with a 25-20 win in the first set that was the result of a three-block performance from Norman and a .467 team hitting percentage for the Blue Devils. Middle Tennessee managed to hit .324 against the Blue Devils, but could not keep up with the middle-blocking duo of Burling and Norman who combined for 10 points. Duke and Middle Tennessee exchanged the lead 12 times in the opener and battled to a 16-16 tie before the Blue Devils finally broke out with three straight points to take their largest lead of the set at 19-16. The Blue Raiders responded with two straight points to come within one at 19-18, but Dunworth, Burling and Norman came through with kills to give Duke three of the next four points and a 22-19 lead. Norman then took hold and blocked the next attack from Brynne Henderson to put Duke within two points of clinching the opening set. Norman took care of those as well, adding her third kill of the frame to run the score to 24-20 before teaming up with Carls to block Middle Tennessee's final offering and lock up the opening victory.

The Blue Devils were just as effective in the second set and hit .455 with just three attack errors while holding the Blue Raiders to a .258 mark on the way to a 25-15 win. The teams fought to four tied scores before Duke busted open a slim 12-11 lead with an 8-2 run that ran the score to 20-13 in Duke's favor. Carls sparked the run and kept it going with three kills during the tear. Dunworth then dropped in a service ace before Norman and Moss strung together three straight kills to clinch the second set.

Down but not out, the Blue Raiders bounced back to hit .526 in the third set with 19 kills and just two errors on 29 attacks. The outburst led to a 25-14 win in favor of Middle Tennessee that signaled the start of the Blue Raider comeback. The Blue Raiders got back on track defensively as well and held Duke to a .161 hitting percentage and just eight kills. Mead was the hero for Middle Tennessee State with seven kills at a .600 clip while Kozon also came on strong with five kills on seven attacks.

Still facing elimination, Middle Tennessee stuck to its gameplan and hit .441 in the fourth set to outpace a .303 effort from the Blue Devils. Both Kozon and Mead hammered five kills each while Clark tossed up 17 of her assists in the 25-22 fourth set win. Carls, Norman and Dunworth did all they could to keep Duke on track, connecting on 11 of their 16 errorless attacks, but could not match the combined effort of Kozon, Mead, Asberry and Stacy Oladinni.

Duke adjusted its defensive plan heading into the fifth set and managed to hold the Blue Raiders to a .080 clip, but had trouble getting past Middle Tennessee State's block and turned in a -.217 clip of their own. The Blue Raiders blocked three balls in the fifth set and came through with a key 4-0 run that broke a 5-5 tie and put them ahead for the remainder of the set. Duke clawed back from a five-point deficit to come within two at 11-9, but stumbled with a pair of attack errors before Kozon and Oladinni closed out the match with consecutive kills.

Duke will hit the road for the second straight weekend on Sept. 19-20 and head to Charleston, S.C., for the Charleston Invitational hosted by defending Southern Conference champion College of Charleston. In addition to the Cougars, Duke will also face Delaware and Gardner-Webb.

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