Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Volleyball Opens Season With Deacon Invitational
8/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 27, 2009
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - For the second-straight season, the Wake Forest volleyball team will open the season by hosting the Deacon Invitational this weekend at Reynolds Gym.
The tournament starts this Friday at 4:30 pm as Jacksonville State takes on Furman. Wake will start the 2009 campaign by facing Charlotte Friday evening at 7 pm.
There will be four more matches on Saturday. The Deacons will host Jacksonville State at 12:30 pm and then Furman at 7 pm. Admission to all six matches is free of charge. Live scoring will also be available for each and every match on www.WakeForestSports.com.
This will be the 14th time Wake has hosted the Deacon Invitational. The Deacons have won the tournament each of the last three times it was played in 2003, 2004 and 2008. In all, Wake has won its own tournament six times.
Last year, the Deacons swept both Davidson and Norfolk State to start the tournament and then capped off the event with a 3-1 victory over Winthrop. Natalie Mullikin hit a solid .388 with 26 kills in the three matches and was named tournament MVP.
This year, Wake is faced with the challenge of replacing Mullikin, who was a three-time All-ACC middle blocker. Looking to fill her shoes will be junior Lauren McIntrye. McIntyre finished 2008 with 206 kills and was second on the team with a total of 111 blocks and 1.03 blocks per set. She will be joined in the middle by sophomore Carlin Salmon and freshman Andrea Beck.
On the outside, sophomore Kadija Fornah and junior Kristen White will both be counted on to produce this season. Fornah finished second to Mullikin last year with 264 kills and White was not far behind with 238 kills. Fornah earned Freshman All-ACC team honors last season and was the Deacon's lone member on the Preseason All-ACC Team this year.
The Deacon offense will likely hinge on the effectiveness of junior setter Kelsey Jones. The Ada, Mich., native has dished out over 2,300 assists in two seasons and also tops the squad with 28 double-doubles over that same stretch.
Defensively, senior Abby Miller and junior Megan Thornberry are back to anchor the back row. Thornberry recorded a school-record 550 digs last season and was fourth in the conference with 2.61 digs per set. Miller led the team in 2008 with a .973 reception percentage and committed just one reception error in 178 chances over the last 15 matches.
Jacksonville State returns five starters and eight letterwinners from its 2008 squad. The Gamecocks hope that nucleus of veterans, along with a group of three newcomers, will help JSU compete for their fourth Ohio Valley Conference title in the past five seasons.
Leading the way for that group of returnees is 2008 First Team All-OVC outside hitter Brittney Whitten. The Boonville, Ind., native enters her senior year after leading the OVC a year ago in kills with 418, while finishing ninth in the league with 4.05 digs per game. Her 433 total digs were the fifth-most in a single season by any player in school history, while her 1,179 career digs rank fourth in the school's record books. She also surpassed the 1,000 career kills mark in 2008, making her just the third player in school history to record at least 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career.
Also back is 2008 OVC All-Newcomer honoree Lauren Harkins. The sophomore libero from Louisville, Ky., stormed onto the scene as a true freshman for the Gamecocks, picking up 482 digs, the fourth-best total in school history, while averaging 4.50 digs per game. She also led the Gamecocks and was second in the league with 32 service aces, an average of 0.30 aces per set.
The Charlotte 49ers return eight players including all of the starters, save for the libero and setter along with five freshmen in 2009.
Kills and points leader Kat Hicks returns to anchor the offense that returns all but 101 of the 1349 kills from a season ago. Almost 99percent of Charlotte's kills and points, while three-fourths of the blocks were recorded by players who return, but last year's two seniors accounted for 94 percent of the assists, nearly half of Charlotte's digs and more than one-third of service aces in 2008.
Senior Kaitlin Knight was the only non-senior captain last season and was Charlotte's most versatile player. She was second on the squad in kills, aces and digs in 2008, while blocking leader Kara Raker, who accounted for nearly a quarter of Charlotte solo blocks in 2008, comes back on the front line for the Niners.
Defensive specialist Abbie Rees should slide to the libero role in 2009, while sophomore setter Sheri Davis has been training all year to step into the starting setter spot. Freshman Lily Vera will be her understudy to start the season.
Furman returns four starters and seven lettwerwinners from a squad that won 21 matches, claimed the SoCon Tournament Title and made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
Sophomore middle blocker Alexis Shaffer leads the returning crew as she was second on the team in blocks (106) and fifth on the team in kills (205) last season.
The Paladins also return their setter in senior Kelsey Salava. She dished out 1,195 assists and was second on the team with 39 service aces in 2008.
Junior outside hitter Katherine Hall will also be a player to watch this year as she was second on the team with 2.58 kills per set last season. She finished the year with a total of 271 kills and also had 38 blocks. Fellow junior Brooke Ellison returns and should anchor the back row. She was second on the team with 374 digs and recorded 32 service aces a year ago.
Fans are invited to come out to Reynolds Gym for all six matches free of charge.
