No. 17 FSU Snaps Duke Win Streak

Friday, November 18

Durham, N.C.

6:30 PM

Duke University

Florida State

No. 17 FSU Snaps Duke Win Streak

11/18/2016 9:41:00 PM | Volleyball

VB Highlights: FSU 3, Duke 1 Jolene Nagel Postgame: FSU 3, Duke 1 Box Score (HTML)Box Score (PDF)

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Duke sophomore middle blocker Leah Meyer tallied a career-high 21 kills but Duke could not overcome costly errors in a 3-1 (25-20, 16-25, 23-25, 20-25) setback to No. 17 Florida State Friday evening in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The loss was just the Blue Devils' third in ACC play and snapped Duke's six match win streak.

Duke (20-7, 14-3 ACC) held the Florida State (21-5, 14-3 ACC) offense, which entered the match among the top in the ACC in hitting percentage, to a .206 clip for the match and totaled three more kills than the Seminoles, but the Blue Devils suffered 26 attack and eight service errors in the defeat. FSU also outblocked Duke, 10-5, behind nine stops from Melanie Keil.

“We had a little bit more we were capable of doing that we just didn't do tonight. We had a lot of errors that we normally don't have. Tonight we just had too many service errors and hitting errors. We didn't block enough balls. We didn't give ourselves a chance even though we were somewhat close.”

Meyer paced the Duke offense with a stellar performance. She hammered at least four kills in all four frames, dropping six in both the first and fourth stanzas. Meyer notched her career-best 21 kills on 31 attempts, committing just four errors, to register a scalding .548 hitting percentage for the match.

“She's done a tremendous job getting better this season,” Nagel said. “That was helpful for us to stay in the match and we need her to continue to do that. She's made some great strides in her sophomore year.”

Fellow middle Jordan Tucker was also solid, contributing 13 kills on a .314 clip to notch her 21st double-digit kill performance of the 2016 campaign.

Led by 26 kills from libero Sasha Karelov, Duke's back row featured four players with 10 or more digs. Defensive specialists Nicole Elattrache (15) and Kelli Kalinoski (11) joined setter Cindy Marina (12) in that distinction. Marina also dished out 46 assists to pick up her 16th double-double.

Katie Horton, the only Seminole to surpass 10 kills in the match, led FSU with 18 kills on 51 attempts. She also contributed 18 digs, good for the double-double.

Duke stormed out to a 7-1 start in set one, taking the stanza 25-20. FSU had its lowest hitting percentage of any set in the match in the first, posting a .086 mark with nine kills and six attack errors. Meyer had six kills on her own, including the final two points of the frame.

The Blue Devils fell behind early in the second and never fully recovered, falling 25-16. Duke hit .070 in the frame and could not find a consistent rhythm.

The third set saw 12 ties and six lead changes before Florida State pulled away, 25-23. Down 19-13, Duke clawed its way back with an 8-2 stretch, culminating in a Meyer solo block to tie it at 21-all. FSU answered with three straight points on a kill, block, and Duke attack error to establish set point. Duke fought off two set points prior to Brianne Burkert's set-clinching kill.

Duke stumbled to start the fourth, trailing 6-1 early. The Blue Devils once again rallied, knotting the score at 10 on an FSU miscue. Florida State countered and built a four-point margin, 18-14. Duke pulled with a point at 21-20 following a Jessi Bartholomew kill, but the Seminoles had the answer and finished the match on a 4-0 run.

Duke takes on Miami at 1 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 20 in its final home match of the regular season. ACC Network is set to broadcast the match live from Cameron Indoor Stadium.

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