Duke Outlasts No. 18 Creighton, 3-2

Sunday, August 27

West Lafayette, Ind.

12 p.m.

Duke University

Creighton

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke Outlasts No. 18 Creighton, 3-2

8/27/2023 3:31:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Postgame Interview

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Duke volleyball team outlasted No. 18 Creighton, 3-2 (17-25, 27-25, 27-25, 24-26, 15-11), Sunday afternoon to close out the Reamer Club Xtra Special Premier in West Lafayette, Ind.

Three Blue Devils tallied double-doubles — Gracie Johnson, Kerry Keefe and Emma Worthington — to help spearhead Duke to its first win of 2023.

Rachel Richardson led the way offensively with a career-high 16 kills as Duke hit .240 percent for the match. Jess Robinson added 10 kills and no errors to play to an impressive .476 clip.

Setter Worthington dished 52 assists, just two off her career high, and added 16 digs while libero Madison Bryant collected 24 digs. Lizzie Fleming led the blocking contingent with four total blocks, in addition to her nine kills and a .444 hitting percentage, while Johnson recorded three blocks.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Creighton came out hot to start the match with a .316 hitting percentage to take a 1-0 early lead.
Duke responded well and evened the match (1-1) heading into the third. As a team, the Blue Devils hit .229 percent in the second frame as Richardson added five while Jess Robinson added four.
The third set was a back-and-forth marathon that featured 16 ties. Johnson recorded her second ace of the match to bring up set point (25-24), but Creighton had an answer to temporarily hold off Duke before Robinson secured her sixth kill of the match to give duke a 2-1 edge.
Both teams put up big numbers offensively in the fourth frame — Duke hit .326 percent to Creighton's .350.
After Creighton forced a fifth set (2-2), Duke strung together a 3-0 run to lead 9-6 which was sparked by a big block by Fleming and Worthington on the right side. After forcing the Bluejays into a timeout, Johnson tallied her 15th kill of the match, inching Duke closer to victory (11-8).
A couple of Creighton attack errors gave Duke the 13-10 edge, forcing Creighton into its final timeout of the match. Christina Barrow came off the bench at match point (14-11) and secured a huge ace to win the match, the first of her career.
Creighton was led by Norah Sis with 27 kills and 15 digs while setter Kendra Wait dished 53 dimes.

NOTABLES

Duke moves to 1-2 in 2023.
This was head coach Jolene Nagel's 684th career victory and her 481st at the helm of the Blue Devils.
Duke owns 999 wins as a program.
The win marked Duke's first over a ranked opponent since Sept. 20, 2019 against No. 14 Oregon (3-2).
Through three matches, Robinson is hitting .455 percent with 22 kills and just two errors.
Johnson tallied her second double-double of the season with 15 kills and 15 digs — she owns 20 in her career.
With her two aces today, Johnson now owns 127 for her career to rank eighth in program history.
Fleming notched four total blocks for the 52nd time in her Duke career.
The match featured a whopping 36 tie scores and 13 lead changes, including 16 ties in the third set.
Duke's .240 hitting percentage for the match was its best since Nov. 6, 2022.

QUOTE

"[I'm] really happy for this team to secure this quality win today. Creighton is a highly respected program with a history of a lot of success. They always play hard and they always play smart. Our team controlled our first touch well today on the serve and pass. Our block and defense got better as the match went on. We knew this trip to Purdue was going to provide some tough opponents on the first weekend. Today we came into this match 0-2 against two solid opponents and we had our backs against the wall. It is really exciting to see how our team responded today and I feel strongly we can build on this. Our entire team was in the moment and many individuals demonstrated courage throughout." - head coach Jolene Nagel