Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Duke
Volleyball Finishes Regular Season With 3-1 Setback At Duke
11/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 25, 2008
Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format 
DURHAM, N.C. - Sophomore libero Megan Thornberry broke the school's single-season digs record but Duke still managed to hit a solid .272 to outlast Wake Forest 3-1 at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the regular season finale for both teams.
Thornberry needed just three digs coming into the night and collected a team-high 24 to break Trina Maso de Moya's school record of 528 which she set back in 2000. Thornberry now has a total o 550 digs on the season.
The win (19-25, 25-18, 25-14, 25-20) secures Duke at least a share of the ACC Title at 24-8 overall and 15-5 in the ACC. The Blue Devils were tied with rival North Carolina coming into the night and will wait to see the outcome of the UNC-NC State match on Friday afternoon.
Wake Forest finishes the regular season with a 19-13 overall mark and an even 10-10 record in the conference. The Deacs were trying for their first 20-win season since 2003.
The reigning ACC Player of the Week Kellie Catanach led the Blue Devils with an impressive night. She dished out a match-high 45 assists and completed the double-double with 20 digs.
Rachel Moss also had a double-double on the night for Duke, posting a match-high 17 kills and collecting 15 digs.
Tonight's match was possibly the final match in Natalie Mullikin's illustrious career at Wake Forest and she finished with a team-high 15 kills and a .364 hitting percentage. Mullikin ended the season with double-digit kills in all but six matches.
Sophomore Lauren McIntyre also had a solid match for the Deacs, recording 13 kills and three digs.
Senior Ashley Homitz, who was also playing in her final match, notched nine kills and four blocks in the setback.
Wake had been solid in the back row all season and got a career-match from freshman Kadija Fornah tonight. Fornah collected 12 digs, which doubled her previous season-high of six while junior Abby Miller chipped in with 17.
Sophomore setter Kelsey Jones finished with her team-high 13th double-double tonight, dishing out 40 assists and recording 12 digs.
The story of the match was the Duke turnaround. After starting slow in the first set, hitting just .106, the Blue Devils regrouped and finished the match with a stellar .272 hitting percentage.
The Blue Devils took the early lead in the first set at 7-4 but the Deacs chipped away and would even the score at 11-11 on a block assist from Salmon and McIntyre. Duke would then grab another lead of 15-13 before a 4-0 run by the Deacs gave them their first lead of the set at 17-15. Wake would not relinquish that lead the rest of the set, taking eight of the next 12 points to claim a 25-19 victory.
The Deacs had 16 kills and only five errors in the first set for a .250 hitting percentage. Wake held Duke to just a .108 hitting percentage and stuffed four Blue Devil attacks in the set.
Duke would turn the tables on the Deacs in the second, racing out to a 5-0 lead and never trailing the rest of the way, evening the match with a 25-18 victory. The Blue Devils built a solid six-point lead at 12-6 and eventually had as much as a nine-point advantage at 19-10.
The second set was well played all around for the hosts, who had a total of 16 kills and no errors in the set. Duke also added a pair of service aces a two blocks in the victory. The Deacs hung in with a respectable .205 hitting percentage but three service errors hampered their momentum.
The break did little to stop the Blue Devils momentum in the third as they scored eight of the first ten points. Duke would take as much as a ten-point lead on four different occasions and a block assist from Rachel Burling and Moss ended the set 25-14 in favor of the Blue Devils.
Duke had 17 kills with only three errors in the third set while Wake had just ten kills and seven errors for a .062 hitting percentage. The hosts also blocked three Demon Deacon attempts to take full momentum of the match.
Despite the momentum swing, Wake came out firing in the fourth. Mullikin had a pair of kills and a block assist with Jones to give the Deacs a 3-0 lead but the Blue Devils resiliency showed through and they would even the score at 6-6.
The set stayed tied until a Catanach kill sparked a 6-0 Blue Devil run that gave them a commanding 19-13 advantage. Wake got within two on a couple of occasions but a late 3-1 run by Duke finished the set and the match 25-20.
Duke also out dug Wake 92-85 and also recorded one more block. The Blue Devils avoided the season-sweep with the win tonight as Wake took a thrilling 3-2 decision back on Sept. 30 in Winston-Salem.
