DURHAM, N.C. – App State volleyball dropped a 25-17, 25-23, 25-21 contest at Duke in its first match of the spring season on Wednesday evening.
McCall Denny paced the App State (1-14) offense with a match high tying 11 kills. She added six digs.
Anna Kincaid finished with six kills,
Sarah Missroon had four kills and
Amya Giger tallied three kills.
Sam Bickley dished out 23 assists and added six digs.
Emma Reilly finished with a team leading 14 digs on defense.
Grace Kinsch chipped in with seven digs and
Holli Smith recorded five digs.
In the opening set, App State used a Denny kill and block assists from
Victoria Wilform and Kincaid as part of a 4-1 run to jump in front 6-4. With the Mountaineers leading 7-5, the Blue Devils (8-2) used a 6-1 run to take an 11-8 advantage. Duke held the lead for the remainder of the set and used a late 5-1 run to win the first frame 25-17.
Trailing 11-8 in the second set, the Mountaineers went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-11 lead. With the set tied at 18-18, App State used back-to-back service aces from
Morgan Flores and a kill from Denny to take a 21-18 lead. Duke came right back with three straight points to tie the score, before a Blue Devils service error gave the Mountaineers a 22-21 lead. From there, Duke scored four of the final five points to take the set 25-23 for a 2-0 lead.
App State used a quick 4-1 spurt to take a 10-7 lead in Set 3. App State opened a 12-10 lead on a kill from Denny, only to see Duke answer with five straight points to jump in front 15-12. The Mountaineers came right back with the next two points to pull within a point at 15-14, but Duke responded with three consecutive points to open a 18-14 advantage. The Mountaineers trimmed the Blue Devils lead to two points at 22-20 late, but could get no closer, falling 25-21 in the final set.
The Mountaineers finished with six service aces in the contest, getting four from Flores and a pair from Reilly.
App State will have a quick turnaround and take on North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Thursday at 5 p.m. in its final match of the spring season. The contest will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
