Wake Forest University
Appalachian State
Deacons Pick-up First Win With Sweep of Appalachian State
9/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 19, 2009
Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format 
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest volleyball team notched its first victory of the season Saturday afternoon with a 3-0 sweep of visiting Appalachian State on the second day of the Black & Gold Challenge at Reynolds Gym.
For just the second time this season, Wake came out and won the opening set by a count of 25-20 and then rallied for a pair of 25-17 victories to complete the sweep.
The Deacons (1-10, 0-1 ACC) played a solid all-around match, hitting a season-best .262 as a team and holding the Mountaineers (3-9) to just a .063 hitting percentage. The Deacs also had a season-high 12 blocks in the win.
Senior Abby Miller led the Wake Forest defense with a season-high 21 digs. Freshman Andrea Beck also played a solid match in the middle, blocking a season-best seven attacks including a pair of block solos. Beck also finished the match with seven kills.
Offensively, junior setter Kelsey Jones recorded her fifth double-double of the season, dishing out 30 assists and collecting 11 digs. Sophomore Kadija Fornah and junior Kristen White each finished the match with 10 kills while Fornah added eight digs and White chipped in with a season-best four blocks.
Middle blockers Lauren McIntyre and Carlin Salmon also played well for Wake as McIntyre posted six kills and a pair of blocks while Salmon had five kills and four blocks.
Maja Jechorek led the Mountaineers with a match-high 13 kills and libero Cassie Engelgau finished with 16 digs.
ASU took an early 8-6 lead in the first set and the teams would then trade mini-runs back and forth until Wake was forced to take a timeout down 16-13. McIntyre and Kasey Sauls traded kills coming out of the break to make the score 17-14 and then Salmon and White teamed-up for a block and senior Sally Fischer notched her fourth service ace of the season to bring the Deacs within one at 17-16.
Another block by Salmon and Jones followed by back-to-back kills from White would extend the Deacon run to 5-0, giving them a 19-17 advantage. Wake would then close the set on a 6-2 run to take the first set 25-20. White finished with five kills and a .357 hitting percentage while Miller notched nine of her 21 digs in the opening set.
With the score tied at 4-4 in the second set, Fornah came to the service line and sparked an 8-1 Wake Forest run. Beck had a kill and a block solo during the spurt and McIntyre capped the run with a pair of thunderous kills.
The Deacs held a 15-9 lead when three-straight kills from Fornah would give them a commanding 18-10 advantage, forcing an ASU timeout. The Mountaineers came out of the break and scored five of the next six points to climb to within four at 19-15 but once again, the Deacons would close the set on a 6-2 run to win the set 25-17. Beck had a pair of service aces in the final run.
The teams traded blows early on in the third set as Beck and White each recorded a two blocks and two kills. With the score tied at 12-12, Wake went on a 6-1 run, sparked by a kill from White, to open-up an 18-13 advantage.
The run continued after an ASU timeout as Fornah had a kill, followed by a kill and a service ace from Jones and a big block from Beck and McIntyre. The Mountaineers rallied for three-straight points to make the score 23-17 in favor of Wake but an ASU service error and a nice block solo from Beck would end the match.
The first match of the day between Duke and Liberty proved to be a classic. Liberty won the opening two sets but Duke came out of the break energized and would rally to win the third set 25-16 and the fourth 29-27. The fifth set also went the way of the Blue Devils 15-13, and Duke is now 2-0 on the weekend.
Appalachian State and Duke will play at 4:30 pm this afternoon followed by Wake and Liberty at 7 pm. Admission to each of the final two matches is free of charge.
