Wake Forest Athletics
Volleyball Opens ACC Play With a Pair of Home Matches
9/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 24, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest volleyball team is off to its best start since 2003 and will look to keep the momentum rolling when the Deacons open ACC action this week. Wake will host Florida State at 7 p.m. on Thursday and welcome Miami into Reynolds Gym on Friday at 7 p.m.
Tickets will be available for both matches at a special rate of $2 for all fans.
The Deacons have started the season with a 9-3 record and have claimed three invitational titles. Wake opened the season with a win at the Deacon Invitational, then claimed the Black & Gold Challenege on Sept. 13 before winning the Appalachian State Inv. last weekend.
A large reason for the Deacs' success this year has been the play of middle blocker Natalie Mullikin and setter Kelsey Jones. Both players picked up tournament MVP honors this season; Mullikin at the Deacon Inv. and Jones at the Black & Gold Challenge.
Mullikin tops the team with 134 kills and 47 total blocks. She is also averaging 3.19 kills per set and is hitting at a .363 clip. Both her hitting percentage and kills per set rank ninth in the ACC.
Jones is coming off back-to-back stellar weekends. She was named the Black & Gold Challenege MVP after dishing out 127 assists and averaging just over two digs per set. For her efforts that weekend, she was named ACC Volleyball Co-Player of the Week on Sept. 15.
Jones matched those numbers at the App. State Inv., with 122 assists and over three digs per set, including a career-high tying 19 digs against App. State. For the season, Jones has 457 assists and is averaging 10.63 assists per set, which is currently second in the conference. She is also second on the squad with 124 digs.
Another key to the good start has been the play of the back row. Sophomore libero Megan Thornberry is third in the ACC at 4.60 digs per set and tops the team with 198 digs. Junior Abby Miller has also played well, notching 123 digs on the season, including a career-high 25 in the win over App. State last Friday.
Sophomore Kristen White has had an all-around good start to the year. She is second on the team with 108 kills and is tied for the team lead with eight service aces. Defensively, her 106 digs rank fourth on the squad and she has a reception percentage of .986.
A welcomed bright spot early on has been the play of the freshmen. Cambrey Oehler has seen action in every set, recording 74 digs and 31 kills. She is also tied for the team lead with eight service aces. Kadija Fornah has played well over the last two weeks and is currently third on the team with 91 kills.
Senior Ashley Homitz and sophomore Lauren McIntyre have also played well up front. McIntyre is second on the team with 39 total blocks thus far and is fourth with 67 kills. Homitz is fresh off her MVP performance at the App. State Invitational, where she recorded 18 kills with a .433 hitting percentage. She also had seven assists, five digs and five total blocks.
Florida State enters with a record of 8-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference after falling to Miami in four sets last Friday. Brianna Berry, who was named Co-Player of the Week with Jones on Sept.15, leads the team 117 kills and is second in the ACC at 3.44 kills per set. She is also second on the team with 38 total blocks.
The Seminoles have dominated the all-time series with Wake, holding a 19-5 edge and wining the last five meetings. Last season, FSU won a back-and-forth five set match in Tallahassee on Sept. 30 and completed the season sweep with a 3-0 win at Wake on Nov. 2.
Miami comes to town atop the ACC with a perfect 12-0 overall record and a 1-0 mark in the conference. The Hurricanes are also receiving votes in the most recent AVCA coaches poll.
Lane Carico posted back-to-back double-doubles against FSU and Florida Atlantic last weekend en route to being named the ACC Volleyball Player of the Week on Monday. For the season, Carico is second on the team with 110 kills and 147 digs.
Genny Mayhew tops the team with 134 kills and Katie Gallagher has dished out a team-high 398 assists. Defensively, Cassie Loessberg is second in the ACC at 4.96 digs per set and has recorded a total of 196 digs.
This will be just the eighth meeting between Wake and Miami, with the Hurricanes holding a 5-2 edge in the series. The two teams split last year's two meetings with each team winning 3-0 on the other's home court. The Wake win on Sept. 28, 2007 was part of a three-match stretch where the Deacs swept three straight opponents for the first time since 2003.
The Deacons are a perfect 6-0 this season in the friendly confines of Reynolds Gym and they are also 6-4 in ACC openers over the past ten seasons.
