Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Looks To Bounce-Back Against In-State Rivals
10/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 14, 2009
Wake Forest Volleyball Weekly Notes 
WINSTON-SALEM, NC - Coming off a pair of tough losses last week, the Wake Forest volleyball team looks to bounce back this week with a pair of road matches against in-state rivals NC State and North Carolina.
The Deacons will take on NC State at 7 pm on Friday evening and then will head to Chapel Hill for a 1 pm tilt with the Tar Heels.
Wake comes into the weekend with a 6-12 overall record and a 4-3 mark in the conference. The Deacs were riding a six-match win streak until Miami and Florida State halted their momentum last week. Junior setter Kelsey Jones notched her seventh double-double of the season against Miami last Thursday, dishing out 43 assists and collecting 13 digs. Her seven double-doubles are tied for the third-most in the ACC this year.
Sophomore Kadija Fornah tops the squad with 167 kills and is averaging 2.74 kills per set. Fellow sophomore Carlin Salmon has played well in the middle so far this season, topping the team with 62 total blocks and 185 points while her 145 kills are second only to Fornah.
The Deacs got a lift defensively with the return of junior libero Megan Thornberry a few weeks ago as she is averaging 4.21digs per set over the last six matches. Senior Abby Miller is averaging 3.38 digs per set this season and is just 45 digs shy of 1,000 for her career. If she reaches that milestone, she will become just the seventh Demon Deacon to do so.
Wake is fourth in the ACC with 15.00 digs per set and so far in the six ACC matches, the Deacons' .240 hitting percentage is fourth-best in the league.
After opening the season 4-2, NC State has dropped 12 of its last 14 matches, including the last eight in-a-row. The Wolfpack are 0-5 in the conference and have been swept by four of the five opponents. The only non-sweep was a 3-2 setback at home to Maryland on Oct. 2.
Offensively, Kelly Wood leads the way with 160 kills for an average of 1.98 kills per set. She is also second on the team in digs per set, averaging 3.07. The sophomore from Yadkinville, NC, also has 13 service aces to her credit.
Senior Keri DeMar is second on the team with 135 kills while Isis Gardner is close behind her with 129. Lisa Kretchman is fourth on the team with 117 kills but tops the squad with a total of 50 blocks for an average of 0.75 per set.
Defensively, libero Lindsay Benac has collected a total of 302 digs and her 3.83 digs per set are good enough for eighth in the conference. She has recorded 10 or more digs in 17 of the team's 21 matches thus far. Setter Alex Smith is averaging better than two digs per set and has dished out a total of 477 kills this season.
As a team, the Wolfpack are ninth in the conference in digs (13.9), service aces (86) and blocks (2.00) while their opponents are hitting .215 against them.
The all-time series between Wake and NC State is really a story of two halves. The first half of the series was dominated by the Wolkpack as it won 19 of the first 22 meetings. But since Wake's 3-0 sweep of NCSU in Winston-Salem, on Oct. 17, 1998, the Deacons have won 21-straight over their rivals from Raleigh, including sweeping 14 of the last 18 meetings. Last year, Wake won both matches by a 3-1 decision.
North Carolina enters the weekend with an 8-9 record overall but has faced a very tough schedule. In the conference, UNC is 4-2 with wins over Maryland, Boston College, at Clemson and at Virginia.
Senior Heather Brooks leads the squad and is eighth in the ACC with a .355 hitting percentage. She also tops the team with 161 kills and 50 blocks. Fellow senior Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland is close behind Brooks with 159 kills and leads the team with 2.74 kills per set. She notched a career-high 17 kills in the 3-2 loss to Virginia Tech last week. Tuntland is also second to Brooks defensively at the net, blocking a total of 44 attacks.
Junior Suzanne Haydel is a threat on the outside, averaging 2.62 kills per set and 2.79 digs per set. Setters Erica Behm and Cora Harms have each performed admirably this season, averaging 7.70 and 7.21 assists per set, respectively.
Defensively, libero Kaylie Gibson tops the team with 240 digs and 3.87 digs per set. Sophomore Aleksandra Geogieva is also averaging over two digs per set at 2.25.
The Tar Heels have notched at least 10 blocks in four of the last seven matches and are eighth in the conference allowing their opponents to hit just .209. UNC is also seventh in the conference in hitting percentage (.215), kills (12.75) and assists (11.81).
The Wake Forest-North Carolina all-time series has been dominated by the Tar Heels. UNC holds a 35-13 advantage and from 1987 to 1997, the Heels had won 17-straight matches. The teams have split the last six contests including each team winning 3-0 on its home court last season. In matches played in Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels hold a 15-3 edge.
Live scoring will be available for the NC State match through the link on the Wake Forest schedule page while live scoring of the North Carolina match will be accessible via CSTV's Gametracker.
