Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
North Carolina State
Wake Forest Sweeps NC State on Senior Night
11/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 16, 2007
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest earned its first win in more than a month with a three-game sweep of in-state rival NC State on Senior Night Friday evening at Reynolds Gymnasium. The Demon Deacons cruised past the Wolfpack 30-18, 30-14, 30-22.
With the win, Wake Forest moves to 8-21 overall and 5-15 in the ACC. The victory also snaps the Deacons' 12-match losing streak. NC State, who has now lost 25 straight, drops to 3-26 overall and 0-19 in conference play.
Wake Forest honored senior Michael Faulkner in a pre-game ceremony. The Deacs' lone graduating senior, Faulkner finished the night with 14 digs and three aces.
Freshman Kelsey Jones turned in her 13th double-double of the season for the Deacs. Jones dished out 37 assists and recorded 14 digs. The setter also had four block assists in the match.
Freshman libero Megan Thornberry led the Deacons with 16 digs. Freshman Kristen White and sophomore Abby Miller followed with nine and seven digs respectively.
White just missed a double-double, with nine kills in addition to her nine digs.
Junior Natalie Mullikin and freshman Lauren McIntyre were in double figures for kills with 11 and 10 respectively. McIntyre hit a team-best .533 and also had a team-high six total blocks. Mullikin tallied four blocks on the night.
Junior Mary-Margaret Langston recorded a career-best four aces, including three straight in game two. Coming into the match, Langston had two career aces.
Junior Ashley Homitz totaled nine kills and hit .412 in the match.
NC State took its only lead of the night with the first two points in game one. After that, it was all Wake Forest. The Deacons broke an 8-8 tie with seven straight points for a 15-8 margin.
The Wolfpack could not get closer than six (15-9) the rest of the way, as Wake built its lead to as much as 14 (27-13). The Deacs finished with a 30-18 win.
Homitz led Wake Forest in game one with five kills and two block assists. McIntyre chipped in four kills and three block assists. Langston had all four of her aces in game one, including three straight and four in six consecutive points.
The Deacons continued the onslaught in game two, scoring the first six points of the contest. Wake built its lead to 11-1 and then did not let NC State get within eight (11-3) the rest of the game.
The Deacs led by as many as 17 (29-12) before posting a 30-14 win.
Mullikin and White had a team-high five kills each in game two, while Jones dished out 15 assists. Thornberry led the Deacs with seven digs. As a team, Wake Forest hit .351 in game two.
Game three was much closer, but the Deacons still held control throughout. The Wolfpack battled back from a 10-5 deficit to pull within 13-11.
Wake, however, used a 9-3 run to open up an insurmountable 22-14 margin. The Deacs picked up the sweep with a 30-22 win in game three.
Mullikin had five kills to lead Wake. Jones tallied nine assists and seven digs, while McIntyre had a block solo and a block assist.
The win was the Deacons' 19th straight over the Wolfpack. The winning streak includes 15 sweeps dating back to 2002.
Wake Forest will wrap up the season next week with road matches at Virginia Tech and Virginia. The Deacons will bookend the Thanksgiving holiday, taking on the Hokies on Wednesday at 5 p.m. and the Cavaliers Friday at 7 p.m.
