Wake Forest University
Virginia
Wake Downs Virginia For Sixth Straight Win
10/3/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 3, 2009
Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format 
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Three Demon Deacons recorded double-digit kills and the team posted a season-high 13 blocks as Wake Forest notched a 3-1 victory over Virginia Saturday evening in Reynolds Gym.
The win was the sixth straight for the Deacs, who now improve to 6-10 on the year and 4-1 in the ACC. Virginia on the other hand drops its sixth consecutive match and is now 6-10 overall and 1-4 in the conference.
For the second straight night, Wake dropped the opening set by a score of 25-23 but rallied to win the second 25-15. Coming out of the break, the Deacs took the lead from the start and held it the entire way for a 25-20 victory in the third and then closed out the match with a 25-16 win in the fourth.
Juniors Kristen White and Kelsey Jones each posted double-doubles on the night for the Deacons as White notched 12 kills and 12 digs while Jones dished out 45 assists and collected 11 digs. White would also tied her career-high with five block assists and Jones was just four kills shy of a triple-double as she put away six kills on nine attempts.
Sophomore middle blocker Carlin Salmon also had a great night for Wake, posting 12 kills and tying her career-high with seven block assists. Fellow sophomore Kadija Fornah notched a match-high 16 kills to go along with five digs and three blocks.
Defensively, the Deacons recorded a season-best 13 blocks led by Salmon's seven. In the back row, junior Megan Thornberry led the way with 20 digs while senior Abby Miller chipped in with 13. Sophomore Cambrey Oehler finished the night with nine digs and had a pair of service aces.
One night after hitting over .700, junior Lauren McIntyre came back with five kills and no errors for a .455 hitting percentage and also added three blocks.
As a team, the Deacons hit a solid .338, which was their second-highest hitting percentage all year. They held the Cavaliers to just a .117 hitting percentage and out dug the visitors 73 to 66.
Virginia was led Simone Asque's 14 kills while Sydney Hill chipped in with 11. Setter Rachel Gray dished out 47 assists and had eight digs and senior Lauren Dickson led the Hoos with 21 digs to go along with her six kills.
The teams came out of the gate and traded punches early on. Wake went on a 5-0 run to take an 8-5 lead in the first set but Virginia countered with its own 5-0 run to regain a 10-8 lead. The score would then stay fairly even until UVa went a 3-1 run to open up a 22-20 advantage.
Wake tied the score at 22-22 after a nice dig from Thornberry setup a Fornah kill but the Cavaliers would use a kill from Asque and a pair of blocks to close out the set 25-23. Hill had six kills in the set for UVa while White countered with six kills for the Deacs.
With the score tied at 2-2 in the second set, Wake took advantage of some Virginia miscues and got a block solo and two kills from Fornah during a 6-0 spurt that gave the Deacs an 8-2 lead. The lead would shrink to four after a 6-2 run by the Cavaliers but Fornah stepped-up five kills in six points to give Wake a commanding 21-13 lead. After a pair of blocks by McIntyre and freshman Andrea Beck, Fornah would finish the set off with yet another kill.
Fornah finished with eight kills and no errors in the set and also collected four digs. As a team, Wake hit .500 in the second frame with 17 kills and just two errors.
The Deacons rolled the momentum into the third set as they scored the first four points and never looked back. Virginia got as close as two but was never able to tie-it-up and the Deacs would eventually pull away with a 25-20 victory.
Jones and Beck each had three kills on five attempts in the set while Salmon posted six of her seven block assists in the third stanza. White also added three blocks and had a team-best five digs in the set.
The fourth set started out pretty even early on but the Deacons would distance themselves a bit with a 7-4 run that gave them an 18-14 lead. Salmon had a pair of kills during the spurt while Thornberry also notched a service ace. After a UVa timeout, Wake would continue the run, forcing another Cavalier timeout with the score 22-15. White had two kills during that stretch.
Asque added her 14th kill of the night coming out of the timeout but Salmon would closeout the match with a pair of kills to give the Deacs a 25-16 victory.
The last time Wake won six matches in a row was last season as it swept its way through the Appalachian State Invite and the Black & Gold Challenge. The Deacs have not won seven matches in a row since the 2001 season when it finished 20-11.
Wake will seek its seven consecutive victory next Thursday as it welcomes the Miami Hurricanes to town. The match will begin at 7 pm and will be followed by another match at 7 pm on Friday night against No. 18 Florida State.
