Juliana TRAUT - Duke University Athletics

2008 Seniors (L to R): Aana Wherry, Sue Carls, Jourdan Norman
2008 In Review
San Francisco. Burling also improved as a blocker, stopping 87 attacks,
including nine solo stops.
Just as Duke had to replace DeMange in the middle and Hausfeld
at setter, the Blue Devils also elected a new starting libero in sophomore
Claire Smalzer. Smalzer, who played primarily as a defensive specialist as
a freshman, stepped in and picked up right where Shull left off, collecting
590 digs for the second-most in the ACC while joining the 30-dig club twice.
Smalzer came on strong in the second half of the season when she averaged
5.13 digs per set in Duke’s fi nal 16 matches and collected 35 pickups against
Virginia, which tied for the third most in a match in Duke history. Duke went
12-4 during that span, thanks to a defense that held the opposition to a .186
hitting percentage.
Duke advanced to the NCAA
Tournament for the fourth straight
season and upset No. 25 San
Francisco in the first round.
After losing two ACC Players of the Year in setter Ali Hausfeld and
middle blocker Carrie DeMange and all-time digs record holder Jenny Shull
to graduation, the 2008 season was set up to be a rebuilding year for Duke
with new faces at setter, libero and on the offensive front. But despite working
with the revamped personnel, the Duke volleyball team won its ninth ACC
Championship and earned the 14th NCAA Tournament berth in school history
and the seventh under head coach Jolene Nagel.
The Blue Devils, playing the toughest in-conference schedule in the ACC,
went 25-9 overall and 15-5 against conference competition to win a share of
the ACC crown. Included in Duke’s 25 wins on the year were Nagel’s 400th
career victory and her 200th win at Duke, both marks that only two Duke head
coaches have reached in the program’s 38-year history.
Led by All-ACC outside hitter Rachael Moss and All-ACC middle
blocker Jourdan Norman, Duke had one of the top all-around squads in
the conference, ranking among the top three with 13.72 kills per set, 12.78
assists per set and 17.37 digs per set. Behind the balanced attack, Duke
tied rival North Carolina for the best record in the ACC and was then sent to
Los Angeles, Calif., for the fi rst two rounds of the NCAA Tournament where
Duke upset 25th-ranked San Francisco before falling 3-0 against site host
No. 11 UCLA.
Moss produced the bulk of Duke’s offense last season, hammering a
team-high 458 kills at an average of 3.50 per set. She also put down an ACCleading
56 service aces, which contributed to her team-high 539.5 points.
A 5-10 outside hitter, she was just as valuable on the defensive end where
she collected 429 digs – second most on the team – and led the ACC with
18 double-doubles.
While Moss was a nightmare for opposing teams on the outside, Norman
and sophomore Becci Burling were just as dangerous in the middle with the
duo combining for 610 kills and a .279 hitting percentage. Norman, in her
fi nal season at Duke, maintained her reputation as one of the best defensive
middles in the ACC and completed Duke’s blocking triple crown by setting
Duke’s career, single-season and single match blocking records. The 5-11
Norman put back 168 blocks in 2008 –second most in Duke history behind
only the 176 she blocked as a freshman – to give her 640 during her four-year
career, breaking the previous record of 553 that had stood since 2003.
The Blue Devils went 15-5 in the ACC
and were named ACC Co-Champion.
Along with Norman’s prowess at the net, Burling had a breakout season
as a sophomore and finished second on the team with 324 kills and an average
of 2.51 per set. At 6-2, Burling had double-digit kills in 17 matches, including
a 15-for-30 outing in the fi rst round NCAA Tournament win over No. 25
24
Seniors Sue Carls and Aana Wherry also played important roles in
Duke’s success during the 2008 season, notably down the stretch when they
propelled the Blue Devils to seven wins in their final eight ACC matches. Carls
logged seven of her nine double-digit kill outings during that span, including a
career-high 20-kill effort in a five-set win against Virginia. Wherry, meanwhile,
came on strong defensively and collected at least 10 digs eight times over the
second half of the season, including 11 in Duke’s fi nal match of the season
against No. 11 UCLA.
But while Duke’s veterans provided the team’s foundation, it was All-
East Region freshman setter Kellie Catanach who had one of the biggest
impacts on the 2008 squad. Catanach, who inherited talented hitters Moss
and Carls on the outside along with Norman and Burling in the middle, used
all of Duke’s offensive resources to rack up the most assists in the ACC. Also
a Freshman All-ACC selection, she had 98 more assists on the year than the
next closest setter and even more in her inaugural campaign than Hausfeld
did as a freshman.
Even more impressive about Catanch’s play was her value on the
defensive end where she had 314 digs and 83 blocks, both of which were the
third highest totals on the team. Her all-around game produced 17 doubledoubles,
which ranked second in the ACC behind only Moss, who had 18.
Catanach was not the only freshman to have success in her fi rst year,
however, as classmate Sophia Dunworth quickly solidifi ed her reputation
as one of the ACC’s top newcomers. Also a Freshman All-ACC selection,
Dunworth put down 295 kills and picked up 170 digs in her fi rst season in the
Blue and White while appearing in all but three sets. Like Catanach, Dunworth
was also valuable defensively, collecting 170 digs and 54 blocks.
But even with the wealth of talent in the starting lineup, freshmen Kayla
Kirk and Amanda Robertson and junior Brittany Staffeil played their way
into the rotation. Robertson, a 6-3 middle blocker, showed her defensive
value, averaging 2.07 digs per set, and value in the serving game where she
dropped in 38 aces for the second-most in the ACC behind only Moss’ 56.
Kirk, meanwhile, fi nished with 21 kills in 14 sets with her best outing came
against Gardner-Webb when she went 5-for-8 attacking for a .375 hitting
percentage. Staffeil, also on the outside with Kirk, fi nished with nine kills, but
was even stronger defensively, collecting 34 digs for an average of 1.17 per
set. Fourteen of those pickups came in one match against Virginia where she
played in all fi ve sets to help Duke pick up the 3-2 win.
Junior Christina Falcone and sophomore Alex Sall also provided depth
as backup setters to Catanach with Falcone appearing in seven sets and
Sall in 19. Falcone threw out 11 assists in two sets against South Carolina
State for her best outing of the year, while Sall chipped in a season-high
eight in the same match against the Bulldogs. Sall also took on a defensive
role in her fi nal three matches and picked up 18 digs during that span for an
average of 2.25 per set.
2009 Duke Volleyball 2008 In Review