BC has won by sweep eight times and has been swept four times this season. (Anatoly Guz / Heights Staff)
Boston College volleyball’s frontline got off to a hot start in its Sunday afternoon matchup against Duke as it built a 6–3 lead in set one, thanks to kills from Audrey Ross, Anna Herrington, and Danica Rach.
Sam Hoppes joined in on the action, adding three kills of her own as BC held onto an 11–8 lead.
The Eagles (14–6, 3–5 Atlantic Coast) continued to steamroll through Duke’s (5–14, 2–6) blockers, ultimately putting together a 3–0 sweep of the Blue Devils.
Twenty of BC’s 25 points were kills, tallied by six different Eagles.
Herrington strung together three consecutive kills in between back-to-back kills by Bella Ehrlich and Cornelia Roach. That stretch of kills had BC at a 20–12 lead—a deficit that proved too large for Duke to battle back from.
Rach ended a 25–18 first-set win for BC with her third kill of the game. BC entered Sunday with a 10–0 record when winning the first set.
Ross and Rach picked up where they left off in set two, helping BC jump out to an 8–4 lead with a kill each, combined with the help of four attack errors.
The Eagles did not surrender their lead throughout the entirety of the second set. Ross continued her dominance as BC’s main outside hitter, adding three kills and a service ace.
Despite a late push from the Blue Devils, BC held on for a 25–20 win and sat on the brink of its eighth sweep of the season.
Three points to start the third set gave Duke its first lead of the game, but a 6–1 rally put the Eagles right back in front, and they never looked back.
BC jumped to a 16–11 lead shortly after, highlighted by three Rach kills. Duke remained in a five-point radius for a majority of the final set, but the Eagles ultimately topped off their 3–0 sweep of the Blue Devils with a final kill from Herrington.
On Friday night, BC welcomed No. 21 North Carolina (14–2, 7–0) to Chestnut Hill. The Tar Heels ultimately handed the Eagles their fourth shutout loss of the season.
Ross had the hot hand to kick off set one, picking up five kills for an 8–3 BC lead.
BC then matched the Tar Heels to keep the gap wide and held onto an 11–6 lead. But unfortunately for the fans watching at Margot Connell Recreation Center, a 14–2 run had UNC completely in the driver’s seat.
The Eagles won nine of the next 11 points behind two aces and kills from Hoppes and Herrington to tie the game at 22–22. UNC wouldn’t let the game slip away, though, winning the final three points and taking a 1–0 lead.
The second time around, UNC took matters into its own hands, taking a large lead from the get-go and holding onto it. Grace Milliken notched a kill late in the set, and Lucy Mott followed up with a service ace, but UNC strolled to a 25–15 win.
A four-point stretch to begin set three gave BC its first lead since the first set, but the Tar Heels answered back with six straight points of their own. Despite Ross’ kill that put BC just one point behind UNC at 11–10, the Eagles committed six attack errors and allowed UNC to sweep them with a decisive 25–22 win.