Clemson Falls to Duke, 3-1, Friday Night

Oct. 29, 2010

DURHAM, NC – Clemson fought hard at first-place Duke, but ultimately fell, 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 18-25, 17-25) to the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Friday night. The Tigers fall to 14-9 overall and 5-7 in the ACC, while Duke completes the season sweep of the Tigers, moving to 18-4 overall and 10-2 in the league.

The Tigers will travel to Winston-Salem on Saturday for a 6:00 pm match with Wake Forest, who fell to Georgia Tech on Friday night.

Serenat Yaz had her 13^th double-double of the season in recording 16 kills and 16 digs, while also recording five block assists. Sandra Adeleye had 12 kills and five blocks as well. Freshman setter Hannah Brenner came up two kills shy of a triple-double, as she had 35 assists, 14 digs, and eight kills.

Duke held Clemson to .169 hitting on the day and Amanda Roberston had a career-high 22 kills for the Devils to lead all players, while libero Ali McCurdy had a match-high 26 digs.

Cansu Ozdemir had 22 digs on the match as well, and Alexa Rand had nine kills and six blocks. As a team, Clemson had 11.0 blocks, just below their season average of 2.97 per set.

Duke took the first set, 25-21, posting 20 kills in the set. The Tigers played solid defensively, but the Blue Devils were able to hit .255 behind seven Amada Robertson kills. The Tigers had three blocks in the set, and Cansu Ozdemir had eight digs, but the consistent Duke offense was able to overcome nine ties in the set, using a 9-3 to turn a 13-10 deficit into a 19-16 lead.

The Tigers fought back with a second set win, 25-21. The Tigers trailed by as many as six at 16-10, but used a 15-5 run to knot the match up. Clemson hit .316 in the set, while holding Duke to .175. Sandra Adeleye had five kills in the frame, and Brenner and Yaz each added three. Tied at 21-21, Yaz slammed a kill of the Duke blockers. Ozdemir followed with an ace in a back row miscommunication, and Rand and Brenner each notched a kill to close the set.

Duke came charging back in the third set, using an early 14-3 run to take a 15-7 lead. Duke hit only .159 but held the Tigers to .054 hitting, with Clemson registering only 10 kills in 54 swings. The Blue Devils managed 17 in 63 attacks, and were able to overcome Clemson’s four blocks. Adeleye was only able to take three swings in the set, as the Devils went on a big run with Adeleye in the back row.

Duke turned a tight set around quickly. With the frame tied at 15-15, the Devils had eight kills during a 10-2 run to close the set, 25-17. Middle blocker Christiana Gray was huge in the set, picking up five solo blocks.

Clemson returns home on Nov. 5 when they play host to Miami, and Nov. 6 when nationally-ranked Florida State comes to Clemson.