Blue Devils Lock Up Share Of ACC Championship

Tuesday, November 25

Durham, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

Wake Forest

Blue Devils Lock Up Share Of ACC Championship

11/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Freshman and reigning ACC Player of the Week Kellie Catanach served up 45 assists and collected a career-high 20 digs to help the Duke volleyball team lock up at least a share of the ACC Championship with a 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-14, 25-20) win over Wake Forest Tuesday evening in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The win temporarily puts Duke (24-8, 15-5 ACC) at a half-game ahead of North Carolina (20-20, 14-5 ACC) in the ACC standings, with Carolina's last match of the season approaching on Friday. Duke can finish no worse than conference co-champion with Tuesday's victory.

The ACC Championship is the second conference championship for Duke seniors Sue Carls, Jourdan Norman and Aana Wherry and juniors Christina Falcone, Rachael Moss, Brittany Staffeil and Juliana Traut. It is also the second conference championship won by head coach Jolene Nagel during her 10 seasons at Duke, and the ninth ACC title for the Blue Devil volleyball program.

“I couldn't be more proud than I was tonight of this team,” Nagel said. “They've really worked together, challenged each other, supported each other and have stuck together. They've continued to improve throughout the season, and I'm happy for them to have earned this championship.”

Catanach allowed three of her Blue Devil teammates to put down 11 or more kills, including Moss, who led Duke with 17, freshman Sophia Dunworth, who matched a four-set career high with 15, and Carls, who pounded 11, including seven in the final set. Under Catanach's direction, Duke hit .272 against Wake Forest (19-13, 10-10 ACC) and made just 13 attack errors. Dunworth made just one error on the night, which did not come until her 21st attack of the match. Her .452 hitting percentage led the team and was just higher than Norman, who went 9-for-20 to finish with a .400 clip.

Duke also dominated the defensive end where a 25-dig effort from libero Claire Smalzer and a five-block performance from Norman helped hold the Demon Deacons to a .174 clip. Smalzer, who extended a run of 15 straight matches with 10 or more digs, ran her season total to 555, which moves her past former Duke great Ashley Wacholder for fifth place on Duke's single-season digs list. Norman, meanwhile, also cracked the top five of Duke's single-season block list for the third time in her career, giving her the first (176 in 2005), second (164 in 2007) and fourth-most (156 in 2008) blocks in a season in school history.

Wake Forest middle blocker Natalie Mullikin had a big night against the Blue Devils with 15 kills and a .364 hitting percentage, but she was the only Deacon to hit over .231. Mullikin helped out on three of Wake Forest's eight blocks, while teammate Carlin Salmon had five and Ashley Homitz had four. Libero Megan Thornberry added 24 digs, but it was not enough to keep Duke away from the conference championship.

“We started out a little tight tonight,” Nagel said. “We weren't communicating or controlling the ball. In game one, we made a lot of errors and could not gain momentum. By game two, we began to score points off our serve and were playing better defense.”

Duke had trouble containing Homitz, Salmon and Mullikin in the opening set as the trio combined for 10 kills and a .346 hitting percentage with just one error between them. They also worked their way in on four blocks to help overcome an early deficit on the way to a 25-19 win. Duke built a four-point lead early in the set, but saw Wake Forest battle back to tie the match at 11-11 and again at 15-15 before the Deacs took charge and went on a 7-2 run to stake a 21-17 lead. Mullikin and Kelsey Jones then teamed up for back-to-back kills to put the Deacs closer to the win before they locked it up on a block from McIntyre and Mullikin and a Duke attack error.

Duke opened the second set in the same fashion as the first, but this time managed to hold on for a 25-18 win. The Blue Devils did not commit a single attack error and hit .457 with 16 kills on 35 attacks. Moss, Norman and Dunworth had four apiece with Dunworth turning in a perfect 4-for-4 effort while Catanach dished out 11 assists at a 45.8 set percentage. Their effort allowed Duke to build a nine-point lead at 20-11, which came in handy when Wake Forest got back on track to score four straight points. The Demon Deacons closed the gap to five at 22-17, but Norman and Dunworth ended the comeback threat with back-to-back kills to close out the frame.

The Blue Devils stayed in control to start the third set and built an 11-3 lead that they rode to a 25-14 win. The lead ballooned to double digits as Duke reached 19 points before the Deacs got into double figures. Duke hit .304 in the frame after Burling and Dunworth stayed errorless and combined for seven kills and .538 hitting percentage. Duke also dominated on the defensive end and held the Deacs to just 10 kills and a .062 hitting percentage, thanks to a pair of solo blocks from Dunworth and Norman and a combined 16 digs from Moss, Catanach and Smalzer.

With only one more set remaining between the Blue Devils and the ACC Championship, Carls made sure the win stayed in Duke's hands and put down seven of her 13 attacks to help the Blue Devils win the fourth and final set 25-20. The senior outside hitter made just one error in the frame and chipped in four digs on the defensive end. Smalzer went on to pick up a match-best 10 digs in the frame, while Dunworth saw her errorless streak end at 20 when her 21st attack of the match was blocked by Jones and Mullikin. The fault did little to deter her, however, as she went on to pick up four more kills on the way to a career-high 15 for the match. The teams battled to a 13-13 tie before Duke broke it open with six straight points that included two kills apiece from Carls and Moss, and another from Catanach. The Wake Forest duo of Homitz and Salmon answered back, though, and blocked three straight attacks to put the Deacs back within two points of tying it up. Carls broke the run with another kill, however, before Burling added consecutive points with another kill and a service ace to put Duke back up 23-19. After a block from Norman and Catanach put Duke at match-point, Dunworth ended the match with her 15th kill of the night.

The win against the Deacs marks the end of Duke's regular season. The Blue Devils will now wait to hear their postseason fate on Sunday, Nov. 30, during the NCAA Division I Volleyball Tournament Selection Show, which airs live at 10 p.m. on ESPNU.

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