Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest Surges Past Virginia Tech In Four
11/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 20, 2008
Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format 
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - In what was an up-and-down affair, Wake Forest used a pair of late-set rallies to defeat the visiting Virginia Tech Hokies 3-1 Thursday night in Reynolds Gym.
The win (25-18, 18-25, 25-16, 25-23) pulls the Demon Deacons back to .500 in the ACC at 9-9 and improves their overall record to 18-12, which is the most wins since 2003 when Wake went 21-10.
The loss was a tough one for the Hokies, who entered the night just two matches in back of ACC leading North Carolina. VT falls to 20-9 overall and 11-7 in the conference.
With her block assist in the fourth set, graduate student Natalie Mullikin becomes Wake Forest's all-time leading blocker, breaking Margaret Davidson's career-record of 388 block assists. Mullikin now owns all three career blocking records as she has 124 block solos, 389 block assists and 513 total blocks.
Mullikin also added ten kills and five digs in the victory.
The offensive leader on the night for the Deacs was senior Ashley Homitz, who hit a blistering .478 with a team-high 12 kills and just one error in 23 attempts.
Sophomore Lauren McIntyre, who has played primarily in the middle this season, slide to the outside tonight and recorded 11 kills. Freshmen Kadija Fornah and Carlin Salmon each chipped in with eight kills while Salmon also played solid defense, leading the team with five total blocks.
Sophomore setter Kelsey Jones had another good evening, dishing out 45 assists and fell just one dig shy of a double-double with nine. Fellow sophomore Megan Thornberry led all defensive players with a match-high 16 digs.
The Hokies were led by the reigning ACC Player of the Week Felicia Willoughby. The sophomore put away 18 kills and recorded a total of four blocks. She also had just two errors in 27 attempts for a sizzling .593 hitting percentage.
Junior Taylor Parrish chipped in with 12 kills for Virginia Tech while setter Erin Leaser dished out 49 assists.
Wake got a pair of kills from McIntyre and Mullikin and another from Salmon to build an early 6-2 lead in the first set. The Deacons eventually took an 11-5 advantage on a pair of kills from Homitz to force a Virginia Tech timeout. As was the story for the entire first set, the Hokies answered the Wake Forest run with a 5-1 run of its own to force the Deacons to call time.
Coming out of the break, the Deacons countered with a kill from Homitz and a kill and block solo from Mullikin to go on a 4-0 run and open up a 16-10 lead. VT fought back with another 5-2 run to get within three at 18-15 but the Deacons would never relinquish that early lead, winning the first set 25-18.
The Demon Deacons hit a solid .379 in the first set with 15 kills and only four errors. VT had 12 kills but seven errors for a .147 hitting percentage.
The second set was the exact opposite. The Hokies ran out to an early 6-0 lead and never looked back winning the set by the identical score of 25-18. VT hit much better in the second set, recording 14 kills for a .278 hitting percentage while Wake struggled, hitting -.029 with nine errors and just eight kills.
Willoughby took over in the second set, putting down five kills and no errors and added a pair of blocks. Parrish also had three kills and a block in the set.
The Deacons looked regrouped after the intermission. Trailing 6-5 early on, Wake got a kill from Homitz and three-straight block assists from Salmon to spark a 12-3 run that gave the Deacs a commanding 17-9 lead. Salmon teamed with Fornah for two of the blocks and Homitz on the other. Fornah and Homitz also added kills of their own during the spurt.
Wake would sideout the Hokies the rest of the set to take a 25-16 victory and a two-sets to one lead. Again, the Deacons had it going offensively, hitting .321 with 13 kills while VT hit just .091 with nine errors and 12 kills.
The fourth set was the best set of the night. Despite the lead changing hands only twice, the score was tied a total of 14 times.
Neither team could grab larger than a two-point edge early on. With the score tied a 15-15, Mullikin teamed with Jones to stonewall a Parrish attempt for her record-breaking block. The Deacons would go on to also score two of the next three points to take an 18-16 lead and force VT to call the first timeout of the set.
The Deacs extended the lead to 20-17 on another block assist, this time from Jones and Salmon. The teams traded the next few points and with Wake clinging to a 22-20 advantage, Homitz pounded home her 11th kill of the match to force the Hokies to call their last timeout.
A kill by Willoughby out of the break made the score 23-21 in favor of the Deacs and Homitz's 12th kill of the night would give Wake a match point at 24-21. After another kill from Willoughby and a block assist from Leaser and Alison Blasingame, Mullikin would end the match with her tenth kill.
The Demon Deacons hit a solid .236 on the night and held Virginia Tech to a .205 hitting percentage. Wake also out dug their counterparts 55 to 49 but the Hokies held the blocking edge at nine to eight.
Wake Forest will wrap up its home schedule Friday night against Virginia at 7 p.m. It will also be senior night on Friday as the Deacons will honor both of their captains, Mullikin and Homitz, prior to the match.
