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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The Duke volleyball team escaped with a close five-set victory over the Virginia Cavaliers Friday evening in front of a capacity crowd at Memorial Gymnasium by scores of 30-28, 22-25, 25-23, 26-28, 15-12. The win improves the Blue Devils to 14-6 on the season and 5-3 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, while the Cavaliers fall to 11-9, 3-5 in conference action.
First-year Simone Asque (Chicago, Ill.) led the Cavaliers with her third career double-double, landing a personal-best 17 kills to go with a career-high 21 digs. Third-year Lauren Dickson (Austin, Texas) also collected a double-double, her 10th of the season, knocking down 12 kills and digging 16 attacks. Second-year Kelly Irvin (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) dished out a season-high 27 assists and collected 11 digs to notch her third double-double this season.
Fourth-year Shannon Davis (Austin, Texas) landed 16 kills and hit .300, while second-year Sydney Hill (Kalamazoo, Mich.) landed a career-high 11 kills and collected five blocks. Second-year Kendahl Voelker (Fort Myers, Fla.) knocked down 11 kills.
Third-year Brittani Rendina (Lisle, Ill.) led the defense, marking the 10th-straight match with double-digit digs, collecting a career-high 38 to lead all players. That mark is the fourth-best single-match output in program history.
Fifth-year Beth Shelton (Cincinnati, Ohio) dug 11 attacks and second-year A.J. Cushman (Richmond, Va.) collected a career-high 19 digs.
Fourth-year Marlow Bruneau (Lakeville, Minn.) dished out 30 assists and collected six blocks, including a career-best three solo blocks.
Duke’s Sue Carls led all players with 20 kills and Rachael Moss landed 17. Claire Smalzer dug 35 attacks, while Kellie Catanach dished out a match-high 57 assists.
Virginia held a slight advantage throughout a close first set. The Blue Devils gained momentum to tie the score at 24 before pulling ahead 25-24. The Cavaliers evened the score at 25 and held Duke to four game points before the Blue Devils captured the win at 30-28 with back-to-back kills.
Duke started the second set with the lead, but the Cavaliers rallied to even the score at 15.
From there, the score was tied eight times before Virginia gained momentum, pulling ahead for its first lead of the set and forced Duke to call a timeout at 23-21. Irving landed a critical ace out of the break, but Norman responded with a kill for Duke. The Cavaliers went on to even the match at 1-1, though, with a kill from Hill that ended the second set with a 25-22 Virginia win.
With the score tied at 21 in the third set, the Blue Devils pulled ahead after two successive kills by Carl and Moss, forcing the Cavaliers to call a timeout. Virginia came out of the timeout with a kill by Asque, but Duke responded with a kill of its own, bringing the score to 24-22 in favor of the Devils. Virginia scored again on a kill by Davis, but the Blue Devils pulled out the 25-23 win with a kill by Norman.
Competition in the fourth set remained close, with the score tied twelve times. At 24-24, a block by Bruneau forced Duke to call a timeout. The Blue Devils scored off a kill a by Moss after the timeout, followed by a Virginia score on a Blue Devil error, bringing the score to 25 all. The score was tied up again at 26 after errors by both teams, before Virginia pulled ahead to win 28-26 and take the match into a fifth set.
With the score tied at eight in the fifth set, the Blue Devils pulled ahead under Moss’ serve, forcing Virginia to call a timeout. A kill by Bruneau gave the Cavaliers a point out of the break, but the two teams continued to exchange points throughout the frame. Three key kills by Duke’s Carls enabled the Devils to hold on to the lead and win the match, 15-12.
Virginia will be back in action on Sunday at noon, playing host to Wake Forest in Memorial Gymnasium.