Wake Forest Athletics
Volleyball Looks To Continue Rolling Into Sunshine State
11/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 4, 2009
Wake Forest Volleyball Weekly Notes 
WINSTON-SALEM, NC - The Wake Forest volleyball team will look to continue rolling as it heads to the Sunshine State for matches against Miami and Florida State this weekend. The Demon Deacons will be in Miami, Fla., Friday night for a 7 pm match and then head to Tallahassee, Fla., for a 1 pm match against the 16th-ranked Seminoles.
Wake is coming off a pair of victories last weekend at home over Maryland and Boston College. With the wins, the volleyball program recorded its 500th victory, moving to 500-466 for a .518 winning percentage in this its 30th year of action.
In the win over Maryland, Wake Forest recorded a total of 61 digs and raised over $8,000 in its fourth annual Dig For A Cure match. Junior libero Megan Thornberry led the Deacs with a match-high 21 digs. It was her fourth match this season with 20 or more digs. She leads the team with an average of 4.43 digs per seton the year.
It was only fitting that in Wake's Dig For a Cure match, senior Abby Miller would reach a milestone, recording her 1,000th career dig in the third set. She is just the seventh Demon Deacon to reach that plateau and is currently sixth all-time with 1,007 career digs.
Sophomore Carlin Salmon and Kadija Fornah lead the Deacons offensively, as Salmon has put away 200 kills and is hitting a solid .222 while Fornah tops the squad with 224 kills and 2.77 kills per set. Freshman Andrea Beck has also had a solid rookie campaign offensively, hitting a team-best .271 with 195 kills.
Salmon and Beck have also been forces at the net defensively, leading the team with 87 and 68 total blocks, respectively. Salmon is averaging 0.98 blocks per set and has notched seven or more blocks three times this year.
Junior setter Kelsey Jones has really had a remarkable year for missing the entire summer after recovering from hip surgery. Jones did not even know if she would be ready to start the season but she was, and has had a solid season. She is averaging 10.08 assists per set, which is fifth-best in the conference and her nine double-doubles are tied for fourth-most in the ACC.
Two weeks ago, Jones dished out her 3,000th career assist, becoming just the fourth Demon Deacon to do so. She is also averaging 2.31 digs per set this season. If she stays on that pace next year, she will record 1,000 career-digs as well, and will be just the second player in school-history to accumulate over 3,000 assists and 1,000 digs.
Miami comes into the weekend with a 14-9 overall record and a 7-6 mark in the conference. UM got off to a 7-2 start before dropping four of its next six matches to fall to 9-6. Miami is on a trend over the last month where after losing a match, it will turn around and win two-straight. That doesn't bode well for Deacs as the `Canes are coming off a five-set loss at Virginia last Sunday.
Lane Carico leads the team and the conference in kills at 4.44 per set. She has notched a total of 382 kills on the year and is hitting .263. Carico also gets it done defensively, averaging 3.40 digs per set, which is 11th-best in the ACC. Coupled with libero Cassie Loessberg's 433 digs for an average of 5.03 per set, the `Canes lead the conference with 15.93 digs per set.
Lici McGee and Ali Becker have stepped-up in the front to help Carico offensively as McGee has recorded 178 kills on the year while Becker is right behind her with 176. Becker also leads the team in blocks with a total of 81 while McGee is second with 79.
Setter Nrithya Sundararaman has stepped in nicely at that position after the injury to Katie Gallagher to dish-out a team-high 624 assists while also averaging better than a 1.10 digs per set. Maria Anderson is averaging 1.86 digs per set and leads the team with 28 service aces.
UM leads the all-time series with Wake Forest 6-4 after winning the first match between the two schools this season in Reynolds Gym. Wake swept both matches last season for the first time in the series while Miami has won three of the five matches played in Coral Gables.
The Seminoles have ascended to No. 16 in the latest AVCA poll, which is the highest ranking in school-history. FSU is 21-2 and is currently riding a nine-match win-streak. The `Noles lead the ACC by one match over Duke with a record of 12-2. Duke and FSU hook-up in a huge conference match in Tallahassee on Friday night.
Both of Florida State's losses came in five sets with the first coming at the hands of then No. 5 Florida in the fourth match of the season. The second loss came in a hard-fought match with Georgia Tech on Oct. 2. Outside of the two losses, the `Noles have dropped just 12 sets in their 21 victories.
The Seminoles are led by senior Brianna Barry, who is hitting a remarkable .527 on the year which is tops in the league and second in the entire nation. She has totaled 222 kills for an average of 2.64 per set and is also second on the team with 1.01 blocks per set.
Fellow senior Mira Djuric tops the squad with 232 kills and leads the ACC in service aces per set at 0.45. Stephanie Neville (193 kills) and Jordana Price (192 kills) have also had good seasons offensively for the `Noles. Price is hitting at a team-high .377 clip, which is third-best in the conference.
FSU leads the conference in assists at 12.86 per set thanks in part to the duo of Duygu Duzceler and Nikki Baker. Duzceler is averaging 5.41 assists per set while Baker has dished out 517 assists for an average of 6.08 per set.
Defensively, the Seminoles are second in the conference in blocks at 2.51 per set led by Price's 102 total blocks. Libero Jenna Romanelli tops the team in digs with 225 while Fatma Yildirim is close behind with 213.
FSU has dominated the all-time series with Wake, holding a 22-6 advantage. The Seminoles have also won the last eight meetings in the series with the last Wake win coming in Winston-Salem on Oct. 21, 2005.
Both matches this weekend will be available through CSTV's Gametracker. Check back to www.WakeForestSports.com for complete match recaps.
