Volleyball Plays Host to Duke on Saturday
10/31/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 31, 2003
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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.-- The Wake Forest volleyball team wraps up its five match homestand Saturday against Duke at 1 p.m in Reynolds Gymnasium. This will be the second meeting this season between Duke and Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons took a thrilling 3-2 victory in the first meeting between the teams on September 30th in Durham. The all-time series between the Blue Devils and Wake Forest is now tied at 11-11.
The Deacs enter the weekend riding a three-match winning streak. Wake Forest has recorded three consecutive sweeps over Florida State, Virginia and NC A&T. The Demon Deacons are now 18-6 overall, 7-4 in the ACC which places them fourth in the conference.
Redshirt sophomore Valerie Rydberg had a streak of eight consecutive double-doubles snapped Oct. 17 at NC State. The redshirt-sophomore from Lemont, Ill. has recorded 14 double-doubles in just 23 matches played this season. Entering the week, Rydberg was fourth in the ACC with 4.01 kills per game and led the league with 0.73 service aces per game. Rydberg also ranked fourth in the ACC with 3.55 digs per game. With her 20 kill, 26 dig performance on Sept. 30 at Duke, the Lemont, Ill. native surpassed the 500-mark in both categories during her career at Wake Forest.
Sophomore setter Erin Borhart achieved a feat rarely seen in volleyball at Florida State on Oct. 4. Borthart had 14 kills and 13 digs to go along with 37 assists, recording the first triple- double of her career. Borhart recorded her 1,000th career assist on Oct. 21st versus Maryland and needs just two assists against Duke to reach the 1,000 mark on the season.
Wake Forest's 3-1 victory at Florida State on Oct. 4 gave head coach Valorie Baker 68 career wins, moving her ahead of Gale Chamblee (1978-80) into second place on the Demon Deacons' all-time victories list. Baker is now 73-44 in her fourth season at the helm for Wake Forest. She has a 33-27 record in ACC matches.
The Demon Deacons have not wasted many games through the first 24 matches of this season. Entering the week, Wake Forest has played just 80 games, an average of 3.33 games per match. This was the second lowest games played total in the ACC next to fourth-ranked Georgia Tech's 72. Only eight of the Deacs' 24 matches have lasted more than three games and they played just three games in 11 of their first 12 matches this season. 13 of Wake Forest's 18 wins have been 3-0 sweeps this season, easily surpassing last year's total of nine sweeps.
At 18-6 overall in 2003, the Demon Deacons have surpassed their win total from a year ago. The 2002 Wake Forest volleyball team finished the season 14-18 overall with a 6-10 mark in the ACC. The Deacs are also assured of improving on last year's conference record, as they are 7-4 at this point.