Duke Falls 3-2 To No. 19 Florida State

Saturday, October 10

Durham, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

Florida State

Duke Heads North To Face Maryland, Boston College

Duke Falls 3-2 To No. 19 Florida State

10/10/2009 10:00:00 PM | Volleyball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. - Jordana Price led No. 19 Florida State with 19 kills, seven blocks and a .516 hitting percentage in a 3-2 (25-18, 27-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-10) win over Duke Saturday evening in Cameron Indoor Stadium, handing the Blue Devils their first ACC loss of the season while snapping Duke's eight-match win streak.

Price connected on 19 of her 31 attacks while committing just three errors in the win. The senior middle blocker's effort ended a run of 10 consecutive ACC victories for the Blue Devils (16-3, 6-1 ACC), who entered the match with just one game lost against six conference opponents in 2009.

Price was part of a Florida State (15-2, 6-1 ACC) squad that hit .301, totaled 15 blocks and had three players with at least 10 kills. Outside hitter Rachael Morgan finished with 16 kills on a .317 hitting percentage, while Fatma Yildirim put down 10 kills.

Florida State used a pair of setters, senior Nikki Baker and freshman Duygu Duzceler, to upend a Duke defense that had held opponents to a .144 clip entering the match. Florida State became only the second team to hit over .300 against the Blue Devils, joining No. 1 Penn State which hit .391.

Senior Rachael Moss, junior Becci Burling and sophomore Sophia Dunworth led Duke's offense, combining for 43 of Duke's 62 kills. Moss and Dunworth each had 15, while Burling finished with 13. Duke also got eight kills from freshman Megan Hendrickson, who is averaging over two kills per set in her last three matches.

Hendrickson's classmate Christiana Gray, who has started every match for Duke, also set a career high with eight blocks. A 6-5 middle blocker, Gray leads Duke with a .365 hitting percentage on the season after totaling five kills on Saturday. Dunworth also set a career high with six blocks, while libero Claire Smalzer recorded 20 digs for the second straight match. Smalzer was one of five Blue Devils with at least 10 digs, leading Nailah Waterfield (11), Alex Sall (10), Kellie Catanach (10) and Moss (10).

Catanach also racked up 51 assists and four kills without making an attack error. The 6-2 setter now has 64 kills on the season while averaging 10.34 assists per set.

The loss was also Duke's first to an ACC team inside Cameron Indoor Stadium since Sept. 25, 2008, ending a streak of 13 consecutive victories.

Florida State came out firing on all cylinders in the opening set, hitting .344 on the way to a 25-18 win. The Seminoles made just three attack errors in the opener while holding Duke to a .030 clip. Price accounted for three kills and three of Florida State's five blocks, while Morgan and Yildirim both finished with four kills apiece. The Seminoles jumped out to as much as a six-point lead at 16-10, which gave them a big enough cushion to outlast the Blue Devils. Duke got five kills from Dunworth, who hit .417 without an error in the opener, but it was not enough to outpace Florida State's 14 kills.

But Duke bounced back in set two, holding down a late Florida State rally to win 27-25. Duke hit just .238 in the set, but put down three well-timed aces and three more blocks to tie the match at one game apiece. The Seminoles' Price finished with 10 kills and a .692 clip in that frame, but Duke countered with an all-around effort that featured five more kills from Dunworth, four from Moss, three from Gray and two apiece from Catanach and Hendrickson. Moss, Catanach and Waterfield also scored with service aces, including a clutch ace from Moss that put Duke ahead 22-19 following a Florida State timeout. But even after Moss' ace, Florida State continued to fight and tied the match three more times until Duke broke a 25-25 tie on a kill from Catanach that was the result of a blocking error by Barry. Duke then fought for the final point and eventually forced a Seminole attack error to clinch the win.

After being held under .300 hitting in the second set, Florida State employed a two- setter gameplan that allowed the Seminoles to hit .417 on the way to a 25-20 win. Duzceler and Baker combined for 14 assists and saw 50 percent of their sets go down for kills. Their effort was just enough to outpace a Duke offense that hit .355 and got five kills apiece from Burling and Moss. Florida State had managed to hold Burling in check for the first two games, but could contain her in the third set as she finished 5-for-8 attacking without an error. Unfortunately, the Seminoles exploited a hole in Duke's serve receiving and totaled three aces, which proved to be the difference.

Facing elimination with another loss, Duke dug deep and held on for a 25-23 set-four win, thanks to a six-kill performance from Burling and a 14-assist outing from Catanach. Burling's final two kills sealed the win for Duke after Florida State bounced back from a 23-20 deficit to run the score to 23-22. Burling then came through with her fifth set of the game - on an assist from Catanch - and then clinched the match with her sixth, also on an assist from Catanach. Catanch also put down two service aces to work her way in on 16 points and help Duke force a tie-breaking fifth game.

The final set was all Florida State, however, as the Seminoles opened a 5-1 run to go ahead 14-9. From there, Dunworth added a kill to get the ball back in Duke's possession, but the effort was too late as a service error ended the match.

Duke will now hit the road for two consecutive weekends, beginning with a trip down Tobacco Road to face rival North Carolina on Friday, Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. Duke will then head to Raleigh, N.C., to face NC State on Saturday at 6 p.m.

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