Blue Devils Open Charleston Invitational With Sweep Over College of Charleston

Friday, September 19

Charleston, S.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

College of Charleston

Catanach Named Student-Athlete Of The Week

Blue Devils Open Charleston Invitational With Sweep Over College of Charleston

9/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

By: Duke Sports Information

CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Freshman setter Kellie Catanach served up 45 assists and put down six kills to lead the Duke volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-20) win over College of Charleston on the opening day of the Charleston Invitational Friday night in John Kresse Arena.

Catanach, a 6-2 setter, directed the Blue Devils (7-3, 0-0 ACC) to a .427 hitting percentage against the Cougars (5-5) and also helped out on the defensive end with three blocks and four digs. Catanach was just as efficient with her attacking and did not make an error in her eight attempts on the way to a career-high .750 hitting percentage.

Duke sophomore Becci Burling was the main beneficiary of Catanach's assists, connecting on a team-high 13 of her 18 attacks for a career-high .667 hitting percentage. Burling, a 6-1 middle blocker, made just one attack error on the night and set a career-high for kills in a three-set match.

College of Charleston, which has won the Southern Conference for four years running, blocked seven balls in the three-set match, but could not keep up with the Blue Devil offense which managed 15 more kills on the same 103 attacks. The Cougars got 31 of their 39 kills from the trio of Emily Sawin, Ginny Phillips and Whitney Russell, but received little else from the rest of the team as the remaining seven players who got in the match combined for just eight kills.

Meanwhile, Duke had three players in double figures, including Burling, junior Rachael Moss and freshman Sophia Dunworth. Moss and Dunworth each hammered 11 kills and had double-doubles, which was the first career double-double for Dunworth as she set career highs for kills, digs and hitting percentage. The 6-1 middle blocker put 11 of her 24 attacks on the floor without a single error and picked up 13 digs.

“It was great to be able to get a win over such a quality opponent with such a winning tradition,” said Duke head coach Jolene Nagel, who earned her 399th career win Friday. “We executed pretty well out there tonight, but I was even more impressed with our court personality. I like the fact that if things aren't perfect, we hang tough and keep plugging away. I feel like we keep working at it even when things aren't always perfect.

Burling opened her night with a 5-for-5 performance in the opening set to lead the Blue Devils to a 25-16 win. Duke fed off Catanach's 13 assists on the way to a .314 hitting percentage that also included a 3-for-4 performance from the freshman setter. Dunworth took care of the floor defense and contributed seven digs that helped the Blue Devils hold College of Charleston to a .108 clip. The teams locked horns early with a 8-8 tie before Duke pulled away with a small 5-2 run that ran the score to 13-10. College of Charleston kept pace and was able to maintain the three-point deficit, but gave up three straight points before surrendering consecutive kills to Duke senior Jourdan Norman that ran the score to 20-15. The Cougars would then commit three attack errors and surrender two more kills to Burling to end the opening set.

Burling and Dunworth stayed hot in the second set and managed to combine for 10 kills on 14 errorless attacks thanks to a 16-assist performance from their setter, Catanach. The Blue Devils put 50 percent of Catanach's set attempts on the floor in the second set on the way to a .472 hitting percentage to outpace a .424 clip put forth by the Cougars. College of Charleston was able to match Duke point-for-point for most of the set while the teams exchanged the lead four times. Duke finally went ahead for good after breaking a 14-14 tie on back-to-back kills from Dunworth and Norman. Leading by two, senior Sue Carls kept Duke ahead with her third kill of the set before Norman, Burling and Dunworth took over, alternating kills with the Cougars to maintain the slim one to two-point advantage. Within two points of victory at 23-21, Catanach snuck one over to put Duke within one before Moss nailed College of Charleston's window shut with the final kill.

Moss pulled momentum from the set-clinching kill and went 6-for-7 without an error in the final frame to lock up the Blue Devil victory. Moss, who also added another point on a service ace, moved closer to reaching 1,000 career kills in the set and ended her night with 987. Duke also received another five-kill performance from Dunworth, a 16-assist outing from Catanach and four digs each from Burling, Dunworth and sophomore libero Claire Smalzer. The Blue Devils hit an even .500 in the final set to outhit the Cougars' .333 clip that was built by a 4-for-8 outing from Sawin and 3-for-5 performance from Phillips. The set was deadlocked at a 17-17 tie before Moss hammered consecutive kills and Catanach followed with one of her own to put her team ahead 20-17. Duke then cruised to victory on kills from Moss, Burling and Dunworth with Moss closing out the win with her second service ace of the evening.

“It was tremendous for our team to be able to produce offensively like we did tonight,” Nagel said. “I think as a team, we just want to keep working to get better, and they're challenging each other every day in practice to make that happen.”

Duke will continue play at the Charleston Invitational on Saturday with a pair of matches, beginning with an 11 a.m. meeting against Delaware and a 5:30 p.m. bout against Gardner-Webb.

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