| DUKE (5-5, 0-0 ACC) | ||||||||||||
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| Roster | ||||||||||||
| Coaches | ||||||||||||
| Stats | ||||||||||||
| Schedule & Results | ||||||||||||
| Notes | ||||||||||||
| THE SCHEDULE | ||||||||||||
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| Duke vs. Wake Forest |
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| When: Sept. 23 | 6:30 p.m. (EDT) | ||||||||||||
| Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium | ||||||||||||
| Watch: BDN+ | Live Stats | ||||||||||||
| Duke vs. Virginia | ||||||||||||
| When: Sept. 25 | 6:30 p.m. (EDT) | ||||||||||||
| Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium | ||||||||||||
| Watch: BDN+ | Live Stats | ||||||||||||
| CONNECT | ||||||||||||
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| @Duke_VB | ||||||||||||
| /DukeVolleyball | ||||||||||||
| @Duke_VB | ||||||||||||
Leading Off
Duke begins the ACC portion of its schedule with a pair of home matches this week ... The Blue Devils welcome Wake Forest Wednesday, Sept. 23 and Virginia Friday, Sept. 25 ... Both contests start at 6:30 p.m. ... Live video coverage is available to BDN+ subscribers via GoDuke.com.
Duke vs. Wake Forest
The Wake Forest series dates back to 1972 with the two teams squaring off 67 times over 42 seasons ... Duke leads the all-time series, 50-17, including a 24-4 advantage in Cameron Indoor Stadium ... The Blue Devils won both contests in 2014 in straight sets ... In the teams' first meeting of 2014, outside hitter Emily Sklar totaled 17 kills, 11 digs and four aces to lead Duke to a 3-0 victory in Winston-Salem, N.C. ... Duke hit .383 as a team with three Blue Devils -- Sklar, Jeme Obeime and Jordan Tucker -- hitting over .400 ... Duke and Wake Forest reconvened Oct. 31, 2014 in Cameron as the Blue Devils won 3-0 ... Sklar again knocked down 17 kills while adding 10 digs ... Middle blocker Alyse Whitaker contributed 14 kills ... Defensively, libero Sasha Karelov picked up 18 digs.
Duke vs. Virginia
Duke and Virginia are set for the 61st meeting in program history Friday, Sept. 25 ... The Blue Devils hold a 48-13 advantage in the series and have won 17 straight matches ... Duke's last loss to Virginia came on the road in 2005 ... The Blue Devils have not dropped a home decision to the Cavaliers since 2003 ... Duke and Virginia met twice in 2014, both 3-0 Blue Devil victories ... Middle blocker Jordan Tucker knocked down 12 kills without an attack error while Sasha Karelov led the defense with 20 digs in Duke's win Oct. 3 in Charlottesville, Va. ... Outside hitter Emily Sklar put down 19 kills to lead Duke to the win Oct. 17 in Durham, N.C.
Duke One of ACC's Top Offensive Teams
Duke enters the weekend averaging 14.46 kills per set and 13.24 assists per set to rank second in the ACC in both categories ... The Blue Devils also rank 23rd nationally in kills per frame and 29th in assists ... Five Blue Devils average 2.00 kills per set or over: Emily Sklar (4.00), Leah Meyer (2.71), Alyse Whitaker (2.30), Jordan Tucker (2.18) and Cadie Bates (2.00) ... Sklar currently ranks second in the ACC in kills per set and is one of just two league players to have knocked down over 4.00 kills per frame, joining Boston College's Katty Workman (4.20 kps).
Meyer Makes an Impact
Freshman middle blocker Leah Meyer is off to a strong start to begin her collegiate career ... She currently leads the team in kills (92), hitting percentage (.349), total blocks (33) and blocks per set (0.97) ... She also ranks sixth in the conference in hitting percentage ... Meyer is the one of just two ACC freshmen to hit higher than .340 on the season (Blayke Hranicka - NC State).
Sklar Climbs Career List
After totaling 23 kills this past weekend, senior outside hitter Emily Sklar moved up one spot to No. 11 on the program's career kills list ... Sklar needs just two more kills to crack the top 10 ... For her career, she has averaged 3.70 kills per set and turned in a .240 hitting percentage.
Devilish Defense
The Blue Devils lead the ACC and rank 11th nationally in digs per set (17.15) thanks in large part to the efforts of libero Sasha Karelov and defensive specialists Kelli Kalinoski and Nicole Elattrache ... All three players average more than 2.10 digs per set ... In addition, outside hitter Emily Sklar picks up 2.91 digs per frame ... Those four players average nearly 13 digs per set combined ... As a team, Duke has limited its opponents to a .188 hitting percenteage ... The Blue Devils have held five opponents to a clip under .200 this season, including two under .100.
Karelov Approaches 1,000 Career Digs
Junior libero Sasha Karelov enters the weekend with 986 career digs, 14 shy of 1,000 ... She begins the weekend averaging 3.85 digs per set for her career, good for seventh all-time at Duke ... Karelov currently ranks fourth in the ACC and 52nd in the country with a 4.76 digs per set average.
Deichmeister Among Duke Assist Leaders
Redshirt senior Maggie Deichmeister continues to climb the Duke career assist charts ... She enters the weekend with 2,240 career assists and a 9.36 assist per set average, good for 10th and ninth in program history, respectively ... Deichmeister is the 10th setter in program history to top 2,000 career assists ... She dished out a season-high 62 assists versus No. 3 Stanford Sept. 11, marking the second time in her career she has topped the 60-assist plateau.
Tough 2015 Schedule
The Blue Devils' 2015 schedule includes 11 matches against 2014 NCAA Tournament teams ... Nine of Duke's 24 opponents registered 20 or more wins a season ago, while six advanced to at least the NCAA Tournament second round ... All five of Duke's losses have come to team's either ranked or receiving votes in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll: No. 8 Stanford, No. 16 Kansas, No. 22 Michigan, No. 25 Long Beach State and RV Michigan State ... Those five teams have a combined 46-9 record on the season.
Meyer Named ACC Freshman of the Week
Middle blocker Leah Meyer garnered ACC Freshman of the Week honors Sept. 7 after collecting Kansas Invitational All-Tournament Team accolades ... She led the team with 31 kills at the tournament ... Meyer hit .431 and posted hitting percentages of .391 or higher in all three matches ... Meyer's ACC Freshman of the Week honor was the first for a Blue Devil since Jordan Tucker earned the distinction Dec. 2, 2013.
Sklar Named Senior CLASS Award Candidate
Outside hitter Emily Sklar was named to the Senior CLASS Award candidate list, which recognizes 30 NCAA women's volleyball student-athletes who excel both on and off the court ... A two-time AVCA All-American and 2013 ACC Player of the Year, Sklar has played all six rotations for the Blue Devils since her freshman season ... A team captain, she is pursuing a degree in psychology with a minor in English.
Sklar Travels to World University Games
Senior Emily Sklar accepted an invitation to represent the United States at the World University Games July 3-14 in Gwangju City, South Korea ... Sklar is no stranger to international volleyball ... She joined the U.S. Junior A1 International Team in Pula, Croatia for the 9th Annual Global Challenge following her freshman year ... In the summer of 2014, Sklar journeyed to China with the U.S. Collegiate National Team for matches against the Chinese Junior National Team and various Chinese professional teams.
Vucich Tabbed to USA HP Elite Ten Team
Senior Christina Vucich trained with the top collegiate beach players in the country the past two summers, earning a spot on the USA Volleyball U23 High Performance Elite 10 National Team in 2014 and 2015 ... The Elite Ten teams are comprised of 10 athletes per gender and age group ... The U23 squad trained in California and competed at the USA HP Championship in Hermosa Beach, Calif.
Duke in the ACC
Duke was picked to finished third in the conference in 2015 according to a vote of the league's 15 head coaches ... Three Blue Devils -- senior outside hitter Emily Sklar, junior middle blocker Jordan Tucker and junior libero Sasha Karelov -- garnered 2015 Preseason All-ACC honors ... The Blue Devils compiled a 14-4 ACC record and finished third in the league standings behind Florida State and North Carolina in 2014 ... Duke led the league in three statistical categories: assists per set, kills per set and digs per set.
Sustained Success
Duke put together a 22-8 campaign in 2014, marking the 26th time in the program's 44-year history that the Blue Devils topped 20 wins ... Duke has surpassed 20 wins in nine of the past 10 seasons, winning 25 or more matches in six of the past eight campaigns ... In 16 seasons under head coach Jolene Nagel, Duke has won 20 or more matches 13 times and 25-plus six times.
#GoDuke
