Duke Comes Back to Upset No. 14 Oregon, 3-2

Friday, September 20

Hempstead, N.Y. - Hofstra

1 pm

Duke University

4-5

Oregon

3-5

Oregon

Duke

Duke Comes Back to Upset No. 14 Oregon, 3-2

9/20/2019 4:10:00 PM | Volleyball

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Duke Comes Back to Upset No. 14 Oregon, 3-2

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – The Duke volleyball team upset No. 14 Oregon 3-2 (9-25, 28-26, 28-26, 19-25, 15-13) to kick off the Hofstra Invitational in Hempstead, N.Y.

"This was a really important win for our team considering where we are in our development," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "I'm really excited that our team had the fight to pick themselves up after the first set, turn the tables and play like they were capable of playing. I'm excited to see the fight they showed against a quality opponent. We will learn a lot from this hard fought match and it will be confidence boost for our team."

Duke had three players with double-digit kills headlined by freshman Gracie Johnson with 14. Sophomore Lily Cooper added 11 to hit .474 for the match with just two errors while Ade Owokoniran added 10. Setters Camille Nazor and Alex Springate dished 25 and 18 assists, respectively, and libero Mackenzie Cole added 19 digs to spearhead Duke's defense.

The Blue Devils got off to a tough start as they fell to the Ducks 25-9 in the first set. Oregon hit .538 with 17 kills and only three errors.

Duke came out strong in the second frame highlighted by senior Samantha Amos. Amos tallying five kills in Duke's second-set victory. Back-to-back kills from Cooper and Amos on assists from Springate tied the contest up at 1-1.

The Blue Devils carried their momentum into the third set with a quick 6-0 run to start, forcing Oregon into a timeout early. Duke found its rhythm and hit .333 percent with 16 kills on four errors while Oregon hit .105. The Blue Devils were also dominant at the net with six blocks.

Duke had a rocky fourth set in regards to hitting and the Ducks used a 4-0 run to close out the set and force a fifth set.

A back-and-forth final set ended with the Blue Devils upsetting the No. 14 Ducks. Duke jumped out to an early 10-5 lead before Oregon took back control with six straight points. Back-to-back service errors for both Duke and Oregon made it 14-13 in favor of Duke before an attack error on Oregon's Ronika Stone who led the team with 17 kills.

Oregon was led offensively by Stone (17), Morgan Lewis (16) and Brooke Nuneviller (15) while setter Kylie Robinson had 57 assists.

"Each of our opponents tomorrow only have one match and we have two," Nagel said. "We need to make sure we're taking care of ourselves and getting the recovery to prepare for two quality opponents tomorrow. This has turned out to be a great tournament and every match will be a fight."

Duke will take on St. John's Saturday at noon before closing out the Hofstra Invitational with Hofstra at 7 p.m.

For more information on Duke volleyball, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeVB". You can also find all-access coverage of all Duke athletic programs on SnapChat by searching for "dukeathletics".

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