Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Duke
Volleyball Stuns No. 23 Duke On National Television
9/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 16, 2011
Final Stats | Final Stats in PDF
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Playing on national television for the first time ever at Reynolds Gym, the Wake Forest volleyball team put on a show, upsetting No. 23 Duke 3-1 in the ACC-opener for both teams. Seniors Carlin Salmon and Kadija Fornah led the Deacs with 21 kills apiece.
Wake Forest improves to 3-5 on the year with the win and 1-0 in the ACC while the Blue Devils drop to 5-4 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
The Deacons hit a blistering .357 to take the opening set 25-21 but Duke rebounded to even the match with a hard-fought 26-24 victory in set two. After the break, Wake dug out of a late four-point hole to take set three 25-21 and then closed out the match with a 13-5 run in the fourth to take a 25-23 victory.
Salmon and Fornah both had impressive nights for the Deacs. Salmon set new career-highs with 21 kills and three service aces. Her previous high for kills was 17 two years ago against Virginia Tech and her previous high for aces was two in 2009 against Jacksonville St. She also hit a stunning .576 (21 kills, two errors and 33 attempts) which was her highest hitting percentage since Sept. 26, 2010 at Georgia Tech.
Fornah's 21 kills were a season-high and just one off her career-high. She had just three errors on the night in 49 attempts for a.367 hitting percentage which was also a season-high. Fornah recorded a total of 12 digs as well to record her second-straight double-double and her third of the season.
Freshman setter Danae Rosendall was the catalyst for Salmon and Fornah's big nights. She finished with a season-high 49 assists, topping her previous-high of 39. She also finished with a couple of kills and nine digs.
Sophomore Kristin Grissom was the third Demon Deacon to record double-digit kills on the night, as she finished with 10 kills and just one error for a .391 hitting percentage. She also played well at the net, finishing with five block assists.
In the back row, libero Dani Thompson and Jazmen Russell finished with 15 and 14 digs, respectively. The 15 digs was one off Thompson's season-high while the 14 digs topped Russell's previous season-high of 11. Both players, along with senior Cambrey Oehler, had a great night passing the ball.
For Duke, outside hitter Amanda Robertson posted a season-high 17 kills and had 10 digs. The 17 kills were the most kills in a match for a Duke player this season. Sophia Dunworth played well in the closing sets and finished with 14 kills while Jeme Obeime totaled 11 kills. Senior setter Kellie Catanach dished out 57 assists on the night to go along with eight digs and three kills.
The first set was played back and forth most of the way. The Blue Devils took a couple of three-point leads at 10-7 and 17-14 but both times the Deacs would close the gap. Duke took a 20-17 lead but a pair of kills from both Russell and Salmon helped Wake even the score at 21-21. After a Duke timeout, Russell notched a pair of service aces and Fornah would eventually close-out the set with her sixth kill, giving Wake a 25-21 victory.
The Deacons hit .357 in the opening stanza with 18 kills and just three errors. Fornah and Salmon both had six kills in the set.
Like the first set, Duke took an early lead in set two and would extend the margin to five at 17-12 but a kill by Fornah and a block assist by Salmon and freshman Ashley Rusk helped trim the margin to 19-17. Kills by Russell, Fornah and Salmon allowed Wake to pull even at 22-22 and bring the over 1,000 fans in Reynolds Gym back into the set.
The teams then traded the next two points before kills from Duke's Megan Hendrickson and Obeime gave the Blue Devils at 26-24 set two victory. Duke had 18 kills in the set, led by Robertson's six.
Duke once again took an early edge in the third set, this time 11-4. The Deacs slowly started to chip away at the lead and a couple of service aces by Salmon would force a Duke timeout with the Blue Devils in front 14-12. Three kills by Fornah over a six-point span helped Wake even the score at 18-18. The run would continue with a kill by Salmon and a block assist by Salmon and Russell to give Wake its first lead of the set at 20-18.
Duke was never able to even the score the rest of the way as Fornah and Salmon put away the set 25-21. Fornah hit .500 in the set with seven kills and no errors. Salmon had two of her three aces in the game while Rosendall had 10 assists and five digs.
Just like it had all night, Wake fell behind again in the fourth. Duke led 10-5 when Wake took its first timeout and would eventually build as much as an 18-12 lead. With a fifth-set looming, the resilient Deacs mounted a comeback. Salmon sparked a 6-2 run as the Deacs pulled to within two at 20-18. A kill by Duke pushed the lead to three but a kill from Grissom and a huge block by Grissom and Fornah brought the crowd to its feet and it pulled Wake to within one a 21-20.
Following a Duke timeout, the teams traded the next four points and the Blue Devils looked to be in control up 23-22. Fornah pulled Wake even with her 20th kill of the night and Russell then took a pass from Salmon and put away her seventh kill to give the Deacs a set-point at 24-23. Fornah then had a nice dig from the back row and would hammer home a set from Rosendall for the final point.
The Deacons finished the match with a season-high 62 kills and a season-best .318 hitting percentage. Wake also won the battle at the net with 11 blocks to just eight for Duke and also had five service aces which tied a season-high.
The match was not only the first match of the ACC season for both teams but it was also the second match of the Black and Gold Challenge. In the first match earlier on Friday, High Point surprised Charlotte with a 3-0 victory. The Deacons will play the Panthers in the championship match Saturday evening at 5 p.m. That match follows Duke and Charlotte which starts at 2 p.m.
