Upcoming Event: Volleyball at Georgia Tech on October 10, 2025 at 7 PM
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7 PM
Volleyball
at Georgia Tech
Saturday, September 25
Clemson, S.C.
6:00 p.m.
Duke University
3
at
2
Clemson
Duke Completes Road Trip with 3-2 Win Over Clemson
9/25/2010 9:15:00 PM | Volleyball
CLEMSON, S.C. - Kellie Catanach dished out a career-high 68 assists and posted her fourth double-double of the season to lead Duke past Clemson 3-2 (23-25, 25-22, 25-15, 24-26, 15-11) on Saturday evening in Jervey Gymnasium.
Catanach's 68 assists blew away her previous career high of 62 and allowed Duke (11-2, 3-0 ACC) to put five players into double-digit kills. The 6-2 junior also contributed 13 digs in the win and was one of three Blue Devils to earn double-doubles. Senior Claire Smalzer came through with 12 kills and a team-high 24 digs, while junior Amanda Robertson added 19 kills and 19 digs.
"This took a gigantic team effort," said Duke head coach Jolene Nagel, whose Blue Devils defeated Georgia Tech 3-2 only 24 hours before Saturday's five-set win over Clemson. "I feel like they had to play like warriors in order to get this done, and that's exactly what they did. When you look at the circumstances with the crowd, the tremendous heat in the gym and the fact that we played five games only a night before, this really was an outstanding win for us."
Clemson (10-4, 1-2 ACC) entered the night as one of the top defensive teams in the country, ranking fourth nationally in blocks per game and second in the ACC in opponent hitting percentage. The Blue Devils, however, slammed down 82 kills against the Tigers despite hitting into 21 blocks. Duke, with a .212 hitting percentage, became just the third team all season to hit over .200 against Clemson.
"We really showed some mental toughness tonight," Nagel said. "There has been some great leadership from our upperclassmen recently, and that's made a huge difference."
Clemson's Alexa Rand worked her way in on 15 of Clemson's 21 blocks, but it was Duke's middle blocking trio that stole the show. All-ACC Blue Devil Becci Burling accounted for nearly 25 percent of the Duke's kills after knocking down a team-high 20 of her 38 attacks with only five attack errors. The 6-1 senior amassed a combined 12 kills in games four and five while making only one attack error during that span. She posted six of those without an error in game five, which Duke won 15-11 to clinch the match.
Burling and fellow middle blockers Robertson and Christiana Gray both posted double-digit kills, while outside hitter Sophia Dunworth also reached that mark with 15. Under the direction of Catanach, Duke's balanced attacks allowed the team to hammer 34 more kills than Clemson.
While Clemson held a significant defensive advantage with an average of 3.02 blocks per set, it was Duke's defense that prevailed. The Blue Devils, led by 24 digs from Smalzer and 20 more from freshman libero Ali McCurdy, held Clemson to a .161 hitting percentage and only 48 kills. Burling provided the blocking for Duke with five stops while Duke picked up 96 digs and surrendered only four service aces for the entire match.
Duke will now open a four-game homestand beginning with a 7 p.m. showdown against Maryland on Friday, Oct. 1. Duke will then host Boston College on the following Saturday at 7 p.m. before welcoming in-state rivals North Carolina and NC State to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Oct. 8-9.
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