Miami volleyball extended their win streak to three this past Friday when they defeated the Duke Blue Devils, 3-2, in a tough match of five sets in Durham, N.C.
The final scores of the match were 18-25, 25-21, 25-20, 23-25 and 15-11, with the ’Canes, in total, tallying 56 kills, 67 digs, eight service aces and 12 blocks. The top two players of the match were junior Flormarie Heredia Colon with 18 kills, 12 digs and two blocks and redshirt freshman Ariana Rodriguez who tallied 12 kills, 16 digs, six blocks and an ace. Sophomore Grace Lopez also tallied three aces along with her 10 kills.
The first set did not go in Miami’s favor. It started off close with the set tied at nine a piece after a kill by senior Paula Guersching. After that tie, Duke had the lead for the rest of the set and they finished it off with a kill by junior Kerry Keefe to give them the set win 25-18 and the early match lead of one set to nothing.
Set two had a better outcome for the Hurricanes. After back-to-back kills by Rodriguez and Guersching, the set was tied at six. Miami then went on a 8-1 run to make the score 14-7. The ‘Canes still had that lead late after a kill by Heredia Colon made it 24-17, putting Miami within a point to tie up the match, but the Blue Devils then went on a 4-0 run to make the score 24-21. However, the late run did not change the eventual outcome because the ‘Canes finished it off right after to win the second set 25-21.
The third set started out with a 4-2 lead for the Hurricanes after an ace by Guersching. However the Blue Devils later took a 8-7 lead after an ace by graduate student Grace Penn. The score remained close for much of the rest of the set with the score tied up again, this time at 14 for each side after a kill by Duke freshman Taylor Williams.
After the tie, the Hurricanes went on a 5-1 run to make the score 19-15. The run featured a kill by Rodriguez and two kills by Heredia Colon. The ‘Canes kept that momentum as well as the lead to win the set 25-20, which was capped off by a kill from Guersching.
The fourth set, much like most of the previous ones, started off close. It was tied up early after a kill by Williams to make the score six each. The Hurricanes then went on a 5-0 run, which featured two kills by Rodriguez and an ace by junior Milana Moisio, to give them a 11-6 lead. However, the Blue Devils went on a run of their own, winning five out the next six points to put them within one to the Hurricanes with the score now at 12-11.
Both teams battled the rest of the way through and the score remained neck-and-neck. It stayed that way late with the score tied at 19. It looked as if the set could go into extra points after an ace by senior Yaidaliz Rosado put Miami within one with the Blue Devils, making the score 24-23. Unfortunately for the ‘Canes, that was not the case after a kill by Keefe gave Duke the 25-23 set win and sent the match into the fifth and final set to decide the winner.
The final set started off with a tie at eight a piece after a kill by Lopez. The Hurricanes proceeded to go on a 4-0 run that included an ace by Lopez to give the ‘Canes a 12-8 lead. Miami never gave up the lead for the rest of the set and building off two kills by Rodriguez, the Hurricanes ended up winning the final set 15-11 as well as the match 3-2.
After the win, the Hurricanes now sit at 14-6 on the season with a record of 5-4 in the conference. This is the first time this season that the ‘Canes have had a winning record in the ACC. As for Duke, they fall to an overall record of 8-12 with a conference record of 4-5. For their next match, the Hurricanes will head down the road from Durham to face the No. 25 North Carolina Tar Heels (16-2, 8-1 ACC) in Raleigh, N.C. today, Oct. 27. Miami will then head back to Coral Gables to face the Stanford Cardinal (16-3, 8-2 ACC) on Friday, Nov. 1 at 7:00 pm.