Wake Forest University
SMU
Volleyball Tops SMU To Win Deacon Invitational
8/30/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 30, 2003
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.-- The Wake Forest volleyball team improved to 3-0 with a victory over SMU on Saturday evening at Reynolds Gymnasium. With this three games to one win, the Demon Deacons placed themselves alone at the top of the four team field of the Deacon Invitational. Kentucky finished 2-1 to place second, SMU went 1-2 and came in third while Tennessee Tech lost each of its matches to finish in fourth place.
The Deacs cruised to a 30-20 victory in game one, but dropped the second game by a score of 30-22. This was the only game Wake Forest lost over the first three matches of the season. The Demon Deacons came right back and took game thre e 30-21. They struggled early in the fourth game, but put together some impressive rallies to rebound and take the deciding game by a score of 30-25.
Valerie Rydberg once again turned in a strong performance for Wake Forest, notching 13 kills to go along with 18 digs, one shy of her career best. Over the course of the three game Deacon Invitational, Rydberg recorded 41 total kills and 35 digs and was awarded with the Tournament MVP Award.
Freshman Natasha Schaefer was also named to the all-tournament team thanks to a weekend consisting of 36 digs which led the Deacs.
Rounding out the Deacon Invitational All-Tournament team were Sissy Canfield (Kentucky), Liz McCaslin (Kentucky), Kelly Larkan (SMU) and Annette Kupka (Tennessee Tech).
The Deacs return to action on September 5th when they travel to Champaign, Illinois for the Illini Classic and face Evansville on Friday at 6 pm. Wake Forest will then play either Illinois or DePaul on Saturday at 6 pm or 8:30 pm.
