DURHAM, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University volleyball team held early leads that energized a large crowd inside McDougald-McLendon Arena in all three sets, but Duke University hit nearly .300 for the match and made 10 blocks on the way to securing the 3-0 non-conference win on Wednesday evening.
 
The Eagles were hosting the Blue Devils on their campus for the first time since Oct. 23, 1975. The two teams also used the significance of the match to partner together to raise money for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Durham and Orange Counties, with kids from that club attending the match, taking pictures with the players and getting to participate in an on-court activity between the second and third sets.
 
Duke (7-3 Overall) is receiving votes in the current AVCA national poll and has now extended its win streak to seven consecutive victories with the 25-10, 25-21, 25-16 triumph.
 
NCCU sophomore Emmie Modlin led all players with 11 kills. Modlin boasted a .381 hitting percentage and also contributed seven assists, and two block assists. Classmate Kamren Harper followed with five kills, two aces and two block assists for eight points. Junior setter Bella Dearinger topped the maroon and gray with 13 assists and junior libero Loren Johnson supplied 15 digs.
 
Duke boasted a .391 hitting percentage on the way to winning the first set convincingly. The Blue Devils then jumped out to a 15-10 lead in the second set before the Eagles used a 6-1 run to tie the set up at 16-16. However, sophomore Kerry Keefe ripped four of her seven kill down the stretch of that set, helping Duke close out the middle stanza on a 9-5 run. Graduate student Gracie Johnson blasted five of her team-high nine kills in the third set as the Blue Devils completed the sweep.
 
Johnson also had four block assists and two aces for a match-high 13 points.
 
NC Central (1-7) will next host Santa Clara University on Thursday at 4 p.m.
 
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