Nagel Nets 400th Win As Duke Downs Delaware 3-1

Saturday, September 20

Charleston, S.C.

11:00 a.m.

Duke University

Delaware

Roth: Volleyball Ready To Begin ACC Charge

Nagel Nets 400th Win As Duke Downs Delaware 3-1

9/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

By: Duke Sports Information

CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Duke head coach Jolene Nagel collected her 400th career victory Saturday morning as the Blue Devil volleyball team toppled Delaware 3-1 (23-25, 25-9, 25-15, 25-20) on day two of the Charleston Invitational in John Kresse Arena.

In her 21st year as a Division I head coach, Nagel becomes the 47th active coach to reach the 400-win plateau. Her career record now stands at 400-233 (.632), which ranks third among active ACC coaches in wins. During her 10 seasons at Duke, Nagel has led the Blue Devils to a 197-93 overall mark with seven 20-win seasons, ACC Championships in 2001 and 2006 and six trips to the NCAA Tournament.

“To get 400 wins, you know you've been doing this a long time,” Nagel said. “I just hope I don't look that old yet!

“I've been really lucky to have the opportunity to coach at such highly-regarded institutions that have allowed me to coach the brightest and the best. I am very thankful for the strong administrative support and the wonderful assistant coaches that have contributed to this. There is just so much about this that goes on behind the scenes, from the trainers to strength and conditioning, promotions, sports information and the equipment managers. I'm just very thankful for all of the support and opportunities I've received.”

Nagel's 400th win came on a strong defensive showing by the Blue Devils (8-3, 0-0 ACC), who recorded a season-high 15 blocks against Delaware (3-9). A career-high nine of those stops came from sophomore middle blocker Becci Burling, who was one block shy of a double-double after turning in 10 kills as well. Junior middle blocker Rachael Moss came through with Duke's only double-double after leading the way with 11 kills to compliment 12 digs. It was Moss' team-leading fifth double-double of the season and the 43rd of her three-year career. She also recorded her 1,000th career kill in the win and is Duke's active leader in the category with 1,008.

Senior middle blocker Jourdan Norman also hassled Delaware at the net and picked up four blocks, including one solo stop, to come within two blocks of taking over second place on Duke's all-time blocks list. Freshmen Sophia Dunworth and Amanda Robertson also helped out with five and four blocks, respectively. Libero Claire Smalzer took care of the defense on the floor and racked up 18 digs and 20 errorless service receptions in the four-set match.

Delaware managed just a .086 hitting percentage against the Blue Devils after making 31 attack errors. The offensive output marked the sixth time in 2008 that Duke held an opponent to a sub-.200 hitting percentage. Katie Dennehy led the way for the Blue Hens with 14 kills, while Kim Stewart and Elena DelleDonne also reached double figures.

“We knew they'd be a good team because they didn't lose much from their CAA Championship team last year,” Nagel said of the Blue Hens. “We had our chances in game one, but didn't take advantage of the opportunities and didn't capitalize on some broken plays that occurred.

“As the match went on though, I thought we served pretty well and did quite a good job of blocking. We had 15 blocks, and we don't usually have those numbers.”

The Blue Hens opened the match with a strong defensive showing of their own and held Duke to a .147 hitting percentage in the opening set on the way to a 25-23 win and a 1-0 lead. Delaware allowed just 11 of Duke's 34 attacks to hit the floor while sending three back on blocks, all of which involved Meghan Bonk. Meanwhile, Delaware setter Jess Chason tossed up 16 assists to direct the offense, which received seven kills from Dennehy and five more from Stewart. The Blue Hens scored the first point of the set, but could not pull away as Duke managed to tie the score 11 times while exchanging the lead on six occasions. The teams fought to a 21-21 tie before Paige Erickson came through with a kill to put the Blue Hens ahead. They were able to maintain the slim lead just long enough for Dennehy to close the door with consecutive kills that ended the set.

Duke turned the tables in the second set and came out with a six-block performance to hold Delaware to a -.214 clip. The Blue Devils forced 11 errors from Delaware while giving up just five kills in the 25-9 win. Burling followed a four-block outing in the first set with three more stops in the second frame while also adding four kills for a team-high 5.5 total points. Dunworth and Robertson also contributed three blocks while Moss picked up six digs. Duke scored early and often in the second-set win and enjoyed two separate runs of 10-3 before scoring four straight points to run the score to 24-7. Delaware came back with consecutive kills to put the score at 24-9, but could not reach double figures after Dennehy ended the set with an attack error.

The Blue Devils turned to freshman setter Kellie Catanach in the third set, who served up 12 assists in leading the team to a .323 hitting percentage and a 25-15 win. Duke's attackers converted over 50 percent of Catanach's sets into kills, including Moss and Dunworth who had four each. Duke built an early seven-point lead at 10-3 before Delaware got back on track and outscored Duke 9-6 over the next several exchanges to cut the deficit to four at 16-12. Catanach responded by dishing out three quick sets to Robertson and Moss as part of 4-2 run that ran Duke's lead back to six points. DelleDonne was able to add a kill with her team trailing 20-14, but it did little to stop the Blue Devils' momentum as they followed with five straight points to close out the set.

Duke's offense kept rolling into the fourth set and hit .382 on the strength of a 15-assist set from Catanach, a 4-for-6 performance from Moss and a 3-for-3 outing from Norman. The Blue Hens finally managed to hit around Duke's block, but had little success as Smalzer picked up six digs and senior Aana Wherry came through with three more along with four errorless service receptions. Delaware got an early jump in the set and went ahead 4-2, but could not hold down the Blue Devils as Norman, Moss and Burling combined for seven straight kills as part of an 8-0 run. Moss had four of those kills, including a run of three straight, while Catanach was credited with an assist on every one. The Blue Hens could not come back from the run and trailed by no less than five for the remainder of the match.

The win over Delaware puts Duke at 2-0 in the Charleston Invitational with the chance to win the tournament this evening when the Blue Devils take on Gardner-Webb at 5:30 p.m.