Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Volleyball Opens ACC Play This Weekend
9/24/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 24, 2003
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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.-- The Wake Forest volleyball team hits the road to open ACC play this weekend at Virginia and Maryland. The Deacs will take on the Cavaliers on Friday night in Charlottesville at 7 pm before heading to College Park where they will face Maryland at 5 pm on Saturday.
-Wake Forest won both matches against Virginia last season, but the Cavaliers have opened up the 2003 season with a 16-0 record, their longest winning streak ever. Virginia holds a slight 12-11 edge in the all-time series against the Demon Deacons.
-The Deacs dropped both matches to Maryland in 2002, including a 3-0 sweep in College Park. The Terrapins are off to an impressive 11-3 start this year, and have a 15-7 record all-time against Wake Forest.
-At 10-2, Wake Forest is off to its best start since the 2000 season when the Deacs also opened up the year with a 10-2 mark. In their victories, the Demon Deacons have dropped just one game. Each win has been a 3-0 sweep except for a 3-1 victory over SMU at the Deacon Invitational.
-Sophomore Christy Williams is off to a great start in 2003, leading the ACC with a .435 hitting percentage entering the week. Williams also ranks ninth in the nation in this category.
-Redshirt sophomore Valerie Rydberg has six double-doubles already on the season in just 11 matches played. Rydberg ranks fifth in the ACC with 3.74 kills per game and leads the league with 0.74 service aces per game. Rydberg also ranks fourth in the ACC with 3.58 digs per game.
-Sophomore setter Erin Borhart is second in the ACC with an average of 12.76 assists per game, which is also good enough for 27th place nationally.
-With the Deacs' sweep of Gardner-Webb, Wake Forest Head Coach Valorie Baker passed Mary Buczek and moved into third place on the career victories list with 65. Baker needs just three more to pass Gale Chamblee and move into second place.
-As a team, the Demon Deacons rank high in the conference in several offensive categories. Wake Forest is second in the ACC behind #5 Georgia Tech in hitting percentage at .308. This mark also ranked seventh in the nation entering the week. The Deacs also rank second in the conference behind the Yellow Jackets in total kills and total assists, and are in the top 30 nationally in each category.
-Wake Forest averages 2.71 service aces per game which is tops in the ACC and sixth in the nation. The Deacs have 92 aces in just 34 games so far this season. Valerie Rydberg leads the team and ranks 14th nationally at 0.74 aces per game. Freshman Lauren Peterson averages 0.68 aces per game, putting her just behind her teammate Rydberg for second in the ACC. Christy Williams also ranks in the top in the conference in this category with 0.48 aces per game.
