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And here's our ACC nightcap. On paper, this isn't much of a match. Duke are #24 in the nation, while Georgia Tech are very near the bottom in the conference. But the house — Georgia Tech's house — was really rockin' tonight, and dare I come out and say it, but volleyball matches aren't played on paper.
Kaleigh Colson started the match off for Georgia Tech with back-to-back aces, and a hitting error from the Duke side as well as a kill from Colson's teammate Jennifer Percy made it a 4-0 start for the Yellowjackets. Jordan Tucker and Jeme Obeime got the Blue Devils their sideout by blocking the slide hit. The sides then traded points, until Duke clawed one back to get to within 6-4. Chelsea Cook took a joust on that rally, that was kept alive at one point by server Elizabeth Campbell kicking the ball to keep it alive (which is perfectly legal). On serve at 7-5, Duke came a point closer still, with Cook putting up a stylish solo block. The 7-6 serve was overpassed on the Yellowjacket side, and it was 7-all.
Duke took the lead on the next rally, as the Yellowjackets had trouble controlling the ball on their own side of the net and could not legally return what seemed to be a pretty simple shot. Duke took their first two-point lead not long after, at 10-8. An ace for Chanell Clark-Bibbs tied the set again at 10-all. A double block for Quinn Evans and Callie Bivings gave the lead back to Georgia Tech, at least briefly. Their next serve found the net. At 12-11, Georgia Tech wound up back in the rotation in which they started the match, and Colson didn't disappoint at the service line, getting her third ace of the set. She added another, to put the 'Jackets up three at 14-11 before Duke could sideout. 14-12 was then a terrific rally, but it ended anticlimactically with a double called against the Yellowjackets. The officials called it pretty tightly — come on, swallow the whistle!
The Blue Devils then surged into the lead at 15-14, with some more unforced errors being called against Georgia Tech. The Yellowjackets called time there.
Coming back from the timeout, Sasha Karelov found the floor beautifully with her serve, putting the Blue Devils up two. Duke kept asserting themselves, and won a couple of great, long rallies to go up four for the first time at 19-15. Cook's fifth kill in as many swings terminated that rally. Duke then went up five at 20-15 when Emily Sklar found the floor from the left side, and Georgia Tech called their second timeout. Interestingly, Duke left the gym floor during timeouts, ostensibly because it was just too loud to hear one another inside.
Courtney Felinski got the Yellowjackets their sideout after the timeout with a sneaky little tip shot that made it all the way around the Blue Devil block. But Duke would not be deterred. They maintained their five-point lead through to set point on 24-19. Georgia Tech staved off their reception point for set point and then their first service point as well, putting up the double block against Obeime. Georgia Tech turned a couple of miracles on the 24-21 rally to keep the play alive, but at the end Percy's hit was called long with no touch, and Duke claimed set 1.
Duke needed much less time in set 2 to assert themselves than they did in the first. Karelov's service ace made it a three-point lead all but immediately, at 4-1, and that margin remained the same for a while. Duke scored on serve next, with a couple of double blocks putting them up 9-4. The Yellowjackets called time there.
They got a couple of points back on Blue Devil net faults, but the team from North Carolina remained well in control. Their tenacious front-line neutralised the young Georgia Tech hitters, and a great transition set from Maggie Deichmeister led to a 'boom goes the dynamite' style kill for Tucker from about middle/left of the net. Percy sided the Yellowjackets out on 12-8, but it was a band-aid. A kill for Sklar and a long hit from the Georgia Tech side made it a seven-point set, the largest lead Duke had had all night. The Yellowjackets briefly got a couple of points back, but still trailed by seven, on 17-10, at their final timeout. The fans kept up the noise, as Duke still left the gym floor to talk it out during the timeout.
Well in control, the Blue Devils looked content to sideout to the win. When you can, why not? Georgia Tech of course didn't make it easy for them, and Clark-Bibbs' second ace of the night brought them back within five, but Duke went on a run afterward. They thrived in their rotation with Sklar and Deichmeister in the back row, effectively giving them four options on offence. Back-to-back bics for Sklar made it seven again at 22-15, before Ivona Kolak delayed the inevitable a moment with a left-side kill off the block and out. A bit of a run on serve for Yellowjacket libero London Ackermann got them back within four on 23-19, but there was much too much ground to make up. Sklar then got the sideout to bring the Blue Devils to set point at 24-19. A service ace for Kolak brought Georgia Tech within 24-21, before Duke put the second set away with the same final score as the first.
Colson started off on serve again for the Yellowjackets in set 3, but unlike in set 1, she had just the one opportunity at it. A double hit called against Kolak gave Duke their first sideout of the set. It touched off an even exchange of points to open up the set. Georgia Tech middle blocker Evans made what I'd call a mistake on the 4-3 rally, trying to block the free-ball the Blue Devils sent to the Yellowjacket side. It gave the Blue Devils the opportunity to set their offence again, but there Evans was, again, to get the kill. Georgia Tech briefly led 5-3 before big kills from Sklar tied the set at 5-all. The tide turned a little from 6-all, as Duke setter Deichmeister completely caught Georgia Tech off guard with a dump for the kill, and that followed with a net fault called against the Yellowjackets to put the Blue Devils up two for the first time. An ace for Cook made it 10-7, and her next serve was almost as good, leading to a kill off the overpass for Obeime.
The teams then traded points a little, until an impressively long 13-10 rally. The Yellowjackets took it on serve to close to within two, as Duke's final block touch looked like it was not quite so well-timed as their others usually were. A service ace, and it was all of a sudden a 1-point set. After a powerful serve, she tried to change it up, by going soft cross-court, but it was too soft, failing to clear the net. 14-12 was another very good rally, with some nice defence on both sides, ending with a wide hit from Cook for point to Georgia Tech. Another ace, for Ackermann, tied the set up at 14's. The quick hitter up the middle got the Blue Devils their crucial sideout to keep the lead from slipping away entirely, and for the first time all night, we had a media timeout.
The Yellowjackets sided out after the timeout, but despite a terrific dig from Kolar on the 15-all rally, they were unable to take the lead. The Duke lead extended to 17-15, and a protracted delay involving an uncooperative ankle brace (a bit of gamesmanship?) iced Sklar on the service line. Her serve on 17-15 flew long, but the Blue Devils got the point right back. On 18-16, a somewhat long rally ended with Tucker up the middle finding the floor, putting Duke up 19-16. Georgia Tech called time there, and despite the crowd sounding a fair bit quieter than they did earlier, Duke still left the gym floor to talk it out.
The Blue Devils came back to the floor with Cook on serve. 19-16 was a long rally, ending with Clark-Bibbs hitting long to put Duke up four. A service ace for Cook and the Blue Devils extended to 21-16 — a 6-1 run since the last tie — and they looked well in control. Deichmeister found the floor on the setter dump, and the Yellowjackets spent their last timeout down 22-16.
A double hit call on Deichmeister gave the Yellowjackets a pulse. At 22-17, Clark-Bibbs chased down a badly wayward ball, leading to a free ball return for the Yellowjackets. But Duke could do nothing with it, as a cringe-inducing miscommunication led to the ball falling harmlessly to the court. A kill for Tucker up the middle put Duke on the cusp of match point, but her subsequent service error made it a 4-point set again. A four-hits call (ball didn't clear the net) drew Georgia Tech back within three, and Duke called timeout for the first time all night, to try to ice 'ace' serverC olson.
McCurdy passed Colson artfully on the first serve after the timeout, leading to a kill for Obeime to bring about match point. That rotated Sklar back to serve, and she served up the winner, as the middle kill ended proceedings.
#24 Duke d. Georgia Tech (25-21, 25-21, 25-20)
The better team won. You play this match ten times, Duke will win eight. Maybe nine. They hit 90 points higher than Georgia Tech for the night, out-blocked them by double, and also had the advantage in digs. Speaking of which, Duke libero McCurdy set a new school record tonight for career digs, so congratulations are in order for that.
The one area where the Yellowjackets did have the advantage was serving, but even there it was marginal. They had nine aces to five for the Blue Devils, and both teams looked to have a number of non-statistical effective serves as well. It certainly wasn't enough for the Yellowjackets to make up the big deficit they started with.
Duke again played with a remarkably short bench, with the DS Karelov (no doubt McCurdy's heir apparent) the only sub used in the entire match. Sklar led all scorers with 10 kills, while Cook was the most efficient on 8/1/15, for .467. Georgia Tech did not have a hitter reach double figures, being led by Percy with 9 kills.
Both teams are back in action on Sunday, with Duke heading to Clemson and Georgia Tech welcoming the Wake Forest Demon Deacons to town.
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