No. 1 Stanford Defeats No. 20 Duke

Friday, September 12

Stanford, Calif.

10:00 PM

Duke University

Stanford

No. 1 Stanford Defeats No. 20 Duke

9/13/2014 1:30:00 AM | Volleyball

By: Duke Sports Information

STANFORD, Calif. – Cardinal middle blockers Inky Ajanaku and Merete Lutz combined for 34 kills and eight blocks as No. 1 Stanford eclipsed No. 20 Duke 3-1 (25-11, 27-25, 23-25, 25-15) Friday evening at Maples Pavilion.

Ajanaku, the reigning AVCA National Player of the Week, led all players with a career-high 21 kills. Ajanaku also added six blocks and hit a blistering .576. Fellow middle blocker Lutz totaled 13 kills while Morgan Boukather and Jordan Burgess dropped 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Overall, Stanford hit .401 to Duke's .223 clip.

Senior outside hitter Jeme Obeime paced the Blue Devils with 17 kills on .351 hitting. Junior outside hitter Emily Sklar picked her third double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs, while junior rightside hitter Breanna Atkinson chipped in with 10 kills and eight digs.

Sophomore libero Sasha Karelov totaled a match-high 18 digs and classmate Chloe DiPasquale posted a career-high 12.

Stanford remained unbeaten in 2014, moving to 5-0. Duke fell to 5-2 with the loss.

The Cardinal showed why it was the country's top-ranked team with a 25-11 first set victory. Sklar put down a pair of early kills before Stanford captured 14 of the next 19 points to take control of the set. The Cardinal amassed 14 kills without committing an attack error, good for a .583 hitting percentage. Ajanaku and Lutz were especially productive, combining for 10 kills and no errors.

After totaling eight digs in the opening frame, the Blue Devils picked up 30 in the second to help slow the Stanford hitters. Duke was then able to drop 20 kills in a back-and-forth second set. Boukather ended a lengthy rally with a tip to put Stanford up, 24-22. Atkinson's sixth kill of the stanza cut the lead to one, and two-straight Stanford attacks sailed long to give Duke a 25-24 edge. Stanford then turned to Ajanaku, who smashed a kill to knot the score. A Brittany Howard ace once again gave Stanford the lead and a Duke error sealed the set, 27-25.

Duke had one block entering the third set, but limited the Cardinal to nine kills with four blocks in a 25-23 victory. An Alyse Whitaker solo stop put the Blue Devils up 19-14, Duke's largest lead of the night. A Stanford 6-0 run negated the advantage before a Sklar kill ended the streak. Tied at 23-23, DiPasquale registered the ace and Sklar hammered home the kill to clinch the set.

Whitaker ended the night with seven kills and a team-high five blocks.

The Blue Devils could not keep the Cardinal at bay in the fourth set. Stanford hit .654 to Duke's .222, finishing off the match with a 25-15 fourth set decision.

Duke wraps up its west coast trip with two matches Saturday, Sept. 13. The Blue Devils face Santa Clara at 11 a.m. (PDT) before taking the court against Penn at 5 p.m. (PDT).

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