Wake Forest Athletics
Volleyball Hosts Black & Gold Challenge This Weekend
9/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 16, 2009
Tournament Website | Wake Forest Weekly Notes 
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest volleyball team will host the 2009 Black & Gold Challenge this weekend at Reynolds Gym. The Deacs welcome in Duke, Appalachian State and Liberty.
Liberty and Appalachian State will kick the weekend off at 4:30 pm on Friday followed by the ACC-opener between Wake Forest and Duke at 7:00 pm. The match between the Blue Devils and Demon Deacons is the Wake Forest Game of the Week and will feature a number of in-match promotions.
There will be a total of four matches on Saturday with Wake Forest facing Appalachian State at 12:30 pm and Liberty at 7:00 pm. Admission is free for the entire weekend.
Wake is looking for its first win of the 2009 season after going 0-3 at the Deacon Invitational, the Western Michigan Bronco Classic and the Georgia Southern Bash at the `Boro. The Deacs have played tough at times this year but just haven't been able to finish off a match, falling in five sets three different times.
Duke comes into the weekend with an 8-2 record. Last week, Duke stopped Colorado State's four-match win streak with a 3-1 victory and then went 2-1 at the Duke Invitational. DU beat College of Charleston 3-1 and then swept Loyola before falling to No. 1 Penn State in three. Despite the sweep, The Blue Devils scored 53 points against the Nittany Lions, which is the third most this season against PSU.
Duke holds a 40-10 lead in the series with Wake but the two teams split the two matches last season as each won on its home court.
The Mountaineers enter this weekend with a 3-7 record. They have gone 1-2 at each of their first three invitationals and then were swept at Charlotte Tuesday night. Liberty has started the season 4-5 and is coming off a 1-2 showing at the Louisville Cardinal Classic last weekend. Liberty was swept by Toledo to start the tournament but rebounded with a 3-2 victory over Tennessee Tech before falling 3-1 to host Louisville.
Wake leads the series with Appalachian State 13-10 and swept the Mountaineers last season in Boone, N.C., at the Appalachian State Invitational.
This will be just the seventh meeting all-time between Wake and Liberty with the Demon Deacons winning the first six contests.
There will be live scoring available for all six matches this weekend through www.WakeForestSports.com.
