Volleyball Prepares For Road Tests at Duke and Wake Forest
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami volleyball team continues Atlantic Coast Conference play this weekend with matches at Duke on Friday and at Wake Forest on Sunday.
The Hurricanes (9-3, 3-3 ACC) seek their first victory of October. Their last win was the dramatic 3-1 success at Notre Dame on Sept. 29, when senior outside hitter Olga Strantzali, who leads the ACC in kills per set (4.72) and points per set (5.27) leader, recorded season-high 25 kills.
Last season, Miami made the trips to Durham, N.C., and Winston-Salem, N.C., in the second-to-last weekend of the regular season. The Canes split the weekend with a 3-1 win against the Demon Deacons and a dramatic 3-2 loss to the Blue Devils, who were receiving votes at the time.
“We are definitely excited for this weekend,” said senior outside hitter Brooke McDermott, who achieved career-best 10 kills at Louisville on Oct. 1. “We’ve been working hard in practice to improve on the things that we have kind of fallen on the downside of these past couple of games. However, we are in this together, we are excited, and our most important match is the next one, as [Coach] Keno always says. We are definitely pushing towards having a great weekend.”
The Canes, who are 7-2 on the road this year, begin their weekend at Duke’s (11-6, 3-3 ACC) Cameroon Indoor Stadium, where the Blue Devils have posted a 5-4 record so far in 2017. Duke went 0-2 last week, dropping matches to in-state rivals North Carolina and NC State.
With its 3-0 win against Boston College two weeks ago, Wake Forest (10-8, 2-4 ACC) surpassed its total number of victories in 2016. The Deacs had back-to-back ACC victories that weekend to start ACC play 2-1, but have lost three straight matches since then. After falling to unbeaten NC State on Friday, Wake Forest took defending ACC champion UNC to five sets in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Sunday.
This weekend, Miami will seek to continue the good tradition in the matchup against the Demono Deacons, which has materialized with a 17-4 series lead over the years.
“It’s not about making great plays, it’s about making good plays over time, that’s what our coaches always tell us,” McDermott said. “Our results haven’t been terrible. We have been close with all teams, but working and pushing toward beating our opponents’ numbers such as point-scoring percentage is going to be really important for upholding our high standard and getting those wins this weekend.”
Next week Miami will begin a five-match homestand, its longest of the season. The Hurricanes will host Louisville (Oct. 20) and Notre Dame (Oct. 22), respectively, in the James L. Knight Sports Complex.
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