Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Looks To Continue Win-Streak At Home This Weekend
9/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 30, 2009
Wake Forest Volleyball Weekly Notes 
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest volleyball team returns home from a successful road trip and looks to continue its current four match win-streak as it hosts Virginia Tech and Virginia this weekend in Reynolds Gym.
Wake (4-10, 2-1) will entertain the Hokies on Friday night at 7 pm and then will host Virginia at 7 pm on Saturday night. This weekend is 2nd Harvest Food Bank Weekend, where all fans can bring 2 canned-goods and receive a buy one get one free promo rate on admission. Also, Saturday night, all fans who attend the Wake Forest football game vs. NC State will receive free admission to the volleyball match with their WF vs. NCSU football ticket stub.
After getting off to a rough start, the Deacons have since won four matches in a row thanks in large part to better passing out of the back row. The back line got a boost last week at junior libero Megan Thornberry returned from a finger injury and recorded a total of 41 digs in the wins at Boston College and Maryland. Thornberry set a school-record last season with 550 digs.
Sophomore Carlin Salmon had a career-night in the five-set win at Boston College last Thursday. She tied her career-high in the match with 14 kills and matched her previous career-best with seven total blocks. She also set a new career-mark with a total of eight digs.
For the year, Salmon leads the team with a total of 47 blocks and 0.87 blocks per set while her 105 kills are third-best on the squad. She has had 10 or more kills five times this year and has recorded at least one block in all but two matches.
Junior Kristen White also notched her second-straight double-double in the win at BC, posted 15 kills and tying her career-high with 14 digs. She then came up just one kill shy of a third double-double against Maryland, finishing with nine kills and 11 digs.
Fellow junior Lauren McIntyre has had a fairly consistent start to the season but blew-up against Maryland, notching a career-high 18 kills and hitting a career-best .739 on 23 attempts. The Indianapolis, Ind., native also finished with three digs and two assists. McIntyre has a total of 20 blocks on the year and is currently ninth all-time in school history with 255 total blocks.
Setter Kelsey Jones was slowed a bit at the beginning of the year as she recovered from off-season hip surgery but she has come on strong as of late. In the two wins last week, the Ada, Mich., product averaged 10.89 assists per set, including dishing out a season-high 50 against Maryland. She also recorded a total of six kills, 10 digs and four blocks in the wins.
One of Jones' weapons in the front row this year has been freshman Andrea Beck. Beck has played in 51 of the 54 sets and tops the team with 137 points. Her 110 kills and 42 total blocks are both second on the team while her .240 hitting percentage is tops on the squad.
Sophomore Kadija Fornah has come alive the past three weeks and in turn, so has the team's play. The West Palm Beach, Fla, native has notched a total of 91 kills and is averaging 3.03 kills per set over the past eight matches. She has also collected a total of 47 digs and has blocked 17 attacks while posting double-digit kills in six of the last eight contests.
Virginia Tech comes into the weekend with an 11-3 mark overall and a 1-2 record in the conference. VT got off to a great start, winning its first nine matches but has dropped three of its last five. Last week, the Hokies dropped a four-set match at No. 18 Florida State but rebounded with a 3-2 victory at Miami on Sunday.
Felecia Willoughby leads the team with 144 kills and is averaging 2.77 kills per set. She also tops the team and is third in the ACC with 1.19 blocks per set. Taylor Parrish is second on the team at 2.64 kills per set while Cara Baarendse is hitting a team-best .371 with 113 kills.
Defensively, Jill Gergen leads the team and is sixth in the conference with 205 digs for an average of 3.94 digs per set. Justine Record is second on the team at 2.39 digs per set and tops the squad with 22 service aces.
VT leads the all-time series with Wake 22-8. The Demon Deacons won three of the first five meetings but then the Hokies won the next 14 matches in a row. Tech has also won four of the last five matches with the Deacs only win coming last season at home in Winston-Salem by a 3-1 count.
Virginia comes into the weekend with a 6-8 overall record and a 1-2 mark in the ACC with its only conference victory coming at home over Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers started the season 6-4 but has dropped their last four matches.
Lauren Dickson and Simone Asque lead the team offensive, averaging 3.37 and 3.16 kills per set, respectively. Dickson's 165 kills are tops on the squad and her 127 digs for an average of 2.59 digs per set are second on the team. Asque has notched 155 kills, 11 service aces and 20 blocks on the year.
Setter Rachel Grey has dished out a total of 445 assists and her 9.08 assists per set are good enough for eighth in the conference. She has also eclipsed the 100-dig mark, totaling 106 on the year.
Defensively, AJ Cushman leads the team with an average of 3.78 digs per set and her 22 service aces are also a team-best. At the net, Sydney Hill has blocked a total of 33 attacks while Jessica O'Shoney is right behind her with 32.
UVa holds a slim 19-16 advantage in the all-time series with Wake but the Cavaliers have won eight of the last ten meetings between the two schools. Last year, the teams split the two contests with each team winning 3-1 on its home court.
Live scoring will be available through CSTV's Gametracker for both matches.
