Duke Defense Dominant in Win over Virginia Tech

Sunday, October 9

Durham, N.C.

1:00 PM

Duke University

Virginia Tech

Duke Defense Dominant in Win over Virginia Tech

10/9/2016 4:23:00 PM | Volleyball

VB Highlights: Duke 3, Virginia Tech 1 Jamie Stivers Postgame: Duke 3, Virginia Tech 1 Cindy Marina Postgame: Duke 3, Virginia Tech 1 Nicole Elattrache Postgame: Duke 3, Virginia Tech 1 Jolene Nagel Postgame: Duke 3, Virginia Tech 1 Season Stats Box Score (HTML)Box Score (PDF)

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Virginia Tech jumped out to a 1-0 lead before Duke dominated the final three sets to defeat the Hokies 3-1 (23-25, 25-14, 25-11, 25-13) Sunday afternoon in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Virginia Tech (8-9, 3-3 ACC) sent down 18 kills on .326 hitting in the first, but Duke (11-5, 5-1 ACC) limited the Hokies to just 21 kills on .010 hitting the remaining three frames combined. The Blue Devil offense countered with 38 kills and a .361 following the first to control the remainder of the match.

The turnaround started with Duke's serve as the Blue Devils totaled eight aces to just one for the Hokies. In addition, Virginia Tech made 12 service errors, double Duke's total of six.

“That first set we weren't really running smoothly,” said head coach Jolene Nagel. “I don't think we were serving very tough. We weren't controlling that first touch like we're capable. We were able to take a deep breath heading into that second set and think about what we needed to do. It was wonderful to see them build on that with our serving and playing solidly defense.”

Entering the weekend as the ACC leader in opponent hitting percentage, Duke limited its 10th opponent of the season to a hitting percentage under .200 Sunday. The Blue Devils totaled 8.0 blocks and picked up 75 digs, including double-digit dig totals from Jamie Stivers (18), Sasha Karelov (16), Cindy Marina (15) and Nicole Elattrache. At the net, Leah Meyer had a team-high five blocks.

“Our defense starts with our block,” Nagel said. “We've been working on that block for a long time. It was exciting to see that be solid so we could dig enough balls around. Awesome job by our defense today.”

Stivers paced the offense with 15 kills and fellow freshmen Samantha Amos added 12, one shy of her career high. Marina filled the stat sheet with 36 assists, 15 digs, six kills, four blocks and four aces, registering her 10th double-double in the process. Stivers also had a double-double, her fifth of the season.

Virginia Tech put together its best set to start the match, winning the first, 25-23. Outside hitter Lindsey Owens had six kills and Jaila Tolbert added five to help the Hokies to the early 1-0 lead.

Duke responded with authority in the second, utilizing a 6-0 stretch with Kelli Kalinoski behind the service line. The Blue Devils totaled five kills and an ace in that stretch to take command, 8-1. Duke's offense dropped 14 kills on 32 swings with just two errors, evening the overall score with a 25-14 decision.

The Blue Devils again used an early run to earn a dominant third-set victory, 25-11. Up 5-3, Duke rattled off 10 straight points with Elattrache serving, resulting in a 15-3 advantage. Elattrache has a pair of aces and Virginia Tech committed five attack errors in that stretch. Marina added back-to-back aces to balloon the lead to 23-7 before Duke wrapped up the set with a block and Tech service error.

After limiting the Hokies to a -.077 third-set hitting percentage, the Blue Devils kept Virginia Tech to a -.027 clip in the fourth. Duke only allowed six Virginia Tech kills to hit the floor and captured a decisive 25-13 win to finish the match.

Duke heads to Wake Forest for the second match in this season's home-and-home series, taking on the Demon Deacons at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 12 in Winston-Salem, N.C.

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