Duke volleyball heads into a two-match weekend at Cameron Indoor Stadium with momentum, two fresh ACC honors, and a chance to keep pushing its season into new territory.
The Blue Devils will host Boston College on Friday at 6:30 p.m. before welcoming Syracuse on Sunday at 1 p.m. Duke is coming off a 1-1 week that included a 3-1 loss to No. 15 Stanford and a sweep of California, a split that still showed how dangerous this team can be when both sides of the ball click.
That was especially true in the awards department. On Monday, Ashby Zubchevich and Nikki Quinn earned weekly ACC recognition, giving Duke its first conference weekly honors since 2024.
Zubchevich was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week after piling up 42 kills across the two matches. She led the league with 6.00 kills per set and turned in the best individual scoring burst of the week for Duke, including a career-high 28 kills on .317 hitting against Stanford. She followed that up with 14 kills in the win over California.
Quinn picked up ACC Co-Setter of the Week after pacing the conference with 12.29 assists per set. Her 86 total assists ranked second in the ACC.
She had 52 assists against Stanford and added 34 against California. The Del Mar, California, native now leads the ACC in assists per set at 10.73, which ranks 10th nationally.
Nataly Moravec also stayed active in the attack, finishing the two-match stretch with 38 kills. On the season, Moravec’s 4.30 kills per set and Zubchevich’s 4.13 put them fourth and fifth in the ACC, respectively. They also sit fifth and sixth in the league in points per set.
Duke’s defense did its part, too. In the win over California, the Blue Devils held the Golden Bears to .124 hitting, the lowest mark by any opponent against Duke this season. California was even more limited in the third set, when Duke held it to .026 hitting while closing out the match.
Mailinh Godschall has been central to that defensive effort. The junior libero has 257 digs on the season, including 35 last week.
She posted 21 digs against Stanford, her second 20-plus dig performance of the year, and added 14 more against California. Her 35 digs were the most she has totaled in a weekend this season.
There’s more than just short-term buzz around this team. Duke’s 14 wins before November are its most since it won 15 in 2024, and a victory Friday would match that mark. The Blue Devils’ 14 wins are tied for fifth in the ACC.
Zubchevich’s 28 kills in the four-set loss to Stanford also stood out on a national scale. That total is the most by an ACC player and the second most in the country in a four-set match this season.
Duke has also been sharp from the service line. The Blue Devils’ 135 service aces rank second in the ACC and 72nd nationally, and their 1.75 aces per set also sit second in the conference.
The numbers in the NCAA’s adjusted RPI show how far Duke has come. The Blue Devils are No. 66 entering the weekend after finishing last season at No. 260, a jump of 194 spots that ranks third in the country behind only Harvard and Lindenwood.
With at least one win this weekend, Duke would secure a .500 finish or better. A sweep would deliver the program’s first winning season since 2024.
Boston College arrives in Durham after a strong home weekend, beating Virginia Tech 3-0 and Virginia 3-1. The Eagles’ other ACC win came in a 3-1 victory over Notre Dame to open conference play.
Audrey Ross has been the centerpiece of Boston College’s offense, leading the team with 334 kills. She ranks second in the ACC in points per set at 5.16 and kills per set at 4.51. Boston College was picked 15th in the preseason coaches poll, one spot ahead of Duke.
Syracuse comes in with one ACC win in 10 conference matches this season, though the Orange did beat Virginia 3-1 at home last Friday. Keirnan Stamey leads Syracuse with 232 kills, while Abby Nicholson has added 117. Syracuse was picked 17th in the preseason coaches poll, one spot behind Duke.
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