VB Defeats Duke, 3-1, In Front of Season-High Crowd
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami volleyball program defeated Duke, 3-1, winning its fourth straight match and is now 4-1 in the Knight Sports Complex.
The Canes improved to 6-3 and 2-0 in ACC play after Sunday’s 25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23 win in front of a season-high attendance of 980 fans.
“The crowd was awesome today and it’s definitely fun to play in front of that,” senior outside hitter Kolby Bird said. “We feel the energy on the court and we thrive off it.”
Bird led the Canes on offense today with a season-high 17 kills and two service aces. Bird got off to a hot start in the first set with four kills alongside Elizaveta Lukianova who also had four in the first. The Canes never trailed in the first set and held the Blue Devils to a .114 hitting percentage.
Duke took the second set 25-23 with a .368 hitting percentage, despite freshman Chloe Brown recording three kills and six digs. Brown finished the match with her first career double double with 11 kills and 12 digs.
Lukianova led the Canes in the third with four kills while Bridget Wallenberger tallied two of her season high eight blocks to help the Canes take the third set, 25-23. Miami took advantage of 10 hitting errors and two serving errors from the Blue Devils, including the set point attack error.
The Canes tallied 16 kills in the final set and Haley Templeton’s fifth kill of the match sealed the deal for Miami to improve to 2-0 in conference play. Templeton finished with 43 assists and five kills.
“It gives us confidence after these two conference games to go into Pitt next week,” Bird said. “Obviously they won last year and didn’t lose anyone, but we know we can win in the ACC and play at a high level so we’re confident going in.”
Miami travels to Pitt on Sept. 28th to face the reigning ACC Champions who are 13-0 on the season. Pitt defeated Virginia Tech, 3-0 in its opening ACC match.
The Canes will head to Virginia on Sept. 30th to conclude their first road conference trip.
For a complete look at the Hurricanes’ 2018 schedule, click here.
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