Duke heads into the weekend with some momentum and a pair of tough stops waiting on the road.
The Blue Devils visit No. 3 Louisville on Friday at 7 p.m. before heading to Notre Dame for a Sunday matchup at 1 p.m. Both matches will stream on ACCNX, with live stats available at GoDuke.com.
Last weekend, Duke delivered its first ACC weekend sweep since 2024, taking down Virginia and Virginia Tech in back-to-back five-set road wins. That also pushed the Blue Devils into their first three-match conference winning streak since 2023.
Ashby Zubchevich was the spark throughout the weekend, leading Duke with 40 kills. She matched her career high with 21 kills against Virginia, then followed with 19 against Virginia Tech.
In Friday’s win, she was especially sharp offensively, hitting .395 with just six errors on 38 swings. On Sunday, she added 10 digs for her seventh double-double of the season.
Nataly Moravec gave Duke plenty on the opposite pin as well, finishing the two victories with 34 kills. Her production has been steady all year, and the numbers show it: Zubchevich and Moravec are fifth and sixth in the ACC in points per set, at 4.63 and 4.60, respectively. They’re the only duo of teammates in the conference both sitting inside the top 10.
Setter Nikki Quinn also turned in a major weekend, impacting the match on both ends. She had the second-most assists in the ACC over the weekend with 89, splitting her totals at 47 on Friday and 42 on Sunday.
Quinn also added three kills in Sunday’s match. Defensively, it was one of her best stretches of the season.
She posted her second and third double-doubles of the year, with 10 digs on Friday and a career-high 15 on Sunday, while also contributing three blocks in each match.
Duke has also been tough to handle away from home. The Blue Devils are 6-1 in true road matches this season, with their only loss coming at NC State in Raleigh. Three of those wins have gone five sets, and three have ended in four.
Quinn remains one of the ACC’s top distributors, leading the league and ranking 10th nationally in assists per set at 10.74. She also reached a milestone in Duke’s win over Virginia last weekend, collecting her 1,000th assist.
Moravec has been one of the steadiest attackers in the country, ranking 27th nationally and fourth in the ACC in kills per set at 4.16. The graduate transfer has posted 13 or more kills in each of Duke’s last 13 matches.
The Blue Devils have also made noise from the service line. Duke ranks second in the ACC and 26th nationally in aces per set at 1.87, with 116 total aces, also second in the conference. Zubchevich and Avery Hamlin have combined for 53 aces, the second-most by a pair of teammates in the ACC.
The road doesn’t get any easier with Louisville first on the slate. The Cardinals are No. 3 in the AVCA/Taraflex Coaches Poll, marking their sixth straight week in the top five and their 86th consecutive week in the top 10. Louisville is 16-2 overall and 6-0 in ACC play, and it has won 18 of 19 conference sets this season.
Statistically, Louisville has been rolling. The Cardinals rank third nationally in hitting percentage at .319 and seventh in kills per set at 14.28.
Three players - Payton Petersen, Nayelis Cabello and Chloe Chicoine - are on the Player of the Year Watch List. Duke’s last win over Louisville came in 2016, and the Cardinals lead the all-time series 15-6.
Notre Dame comes in looking to stop a slide. The Fighting Irish have dropped four straight, including home losses to No.
14 Stanford and Cal last week. Before that, they went 0-2 against Louisville.
Their only ACC win this season came in a sweep of Syracuse on Sept. 27.
Sydney Helmers leads Notre Dame with 158 kills, while Mae Kordas is right behind at 155. The Irish were picked 12th in the ACC Preseason Coaches’ Poll with 104 points and finished last season 12-16 overall and 9-11 in conference play.
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