Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Davidson
Volleyball Sweeps Day One of Deacon Invitational
9/6/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
NCCU Final Stats | NCCU Final Stats (PDF) 
| Davidson Final Stats | Davidson Final Stats (PDF)
By Josh Gresh, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeVolleyball)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest volleyball team began their home campaign with two victories on day one of the Deacon Invitation on Friday at Reynolds Gym. The day began with Deacs winning their home opener 3-0 against North Carolina Central, followed by a hard fought 3-1 victory over the Davidson Wildcats.Leading the way for the Demon Deacons, Matalee Reed had a combined 25 kills for the two matches, and Kylie Long added 21 kills. In addition to Reed and Long, Jazmen Russell added 19 against Davidson and Brianna Lynch added 11 in the two matches.
"I think day one went great", said head coach Ken Murczek. "Both teams came in and gave us tough matches, especially Davidson. But that's we've got to expect. We have got to expect the best from every opponent we play and execute. I thought we did that well today."
The Deacs will finish up the Deacon Invitational tomorrow with a matchup against Presbyterian College at 1 p.m., followed by a 7 p.m. match against the Wofford Terriers.
Wake Forest 3, North Carolina Central 0
The Demon Deacons swept the Eagles in three sets (25-16, 25-21, 25-13) to open the Deacon Invitational. Reed led the way for the Deacs with 12 kills, four service aces, and five block assists.
In addition to Reed, Long added eight kills and a block assist, freshmen Ciara Appelbaum and Brianna Lynch recorded five kills each, and Hanna Lee had four kills and three block assists.
Kelsey Murphy led the way for North Carolina Central tallying seven kills, and Denni Johnson added five kills and four block assists.
In the first set, the Eagles took a quick 2-0 lead with a kill by Murphy and an attack error by Wake Forest. Danae Rosendall got a kill to start the Deacs' 2-0 to tie the match right back up. After back-to-back service errors by each team, the Demon Deacons took their first lead of the ball game when Rosendall served up a great look for Rusk to put down a thunderous kill, giving the Deacs a 4-3 lead.
North Carolina Central kept the set close at the beginning, with the narrowest margin at 14-13. The Deacons would go on a 11-3 run to close out the set and take a 25-16 win and a 1-0 lead. Reed was the high scorer with 5.5 points on three kills, one block assist and two service aces.
The second set would be a test for the Demon Deacons seeing a close set in victory 25-21. The Deacs and Eagles traded points early keeping the set within a point. Wake Forest's largest lead of the set was by seven points with match point to play at 24-17.
North Carolina Central used a 4-0 run to bring the match within three at 24-21, but Long finished off the set with a kill to close it out and give the Deacs a 2-0 lead heading into the third. Reed had a set-high seven kills and added three block assists for Wake Forest. Appelbaum, Long, and Hanna Lee added three kills each in the set.
Wake Forest learned from their mistakes in the second set and started off hot in the third with a 5-1 run at the start, capped off by Sam Boesch's service ace. Although the Eagles did get the match within two at 9-7, the Deacs would outscore North Carolina Central, 16-6 run to win the set 25-13 and the match 3-0.
Wake Forest 3, Davidson 1
In the second match of the day, the Deacs played a hard fought contest against the Davidson Wildcats, winning three-straight sets to take a 3-1 victory. Russell was one of three Deacs to have double-digit kills for the match. She had a team-high 19 kills while Reed and Long added 13 each.
Wake Forest started off the set strong with a 4-1 lead, highlighted by kills by Reed and first point of the match by Rusk. The Wildcats would answer with a 9-3 run to gain an 11-7 advantage. Davidson continued to contain a four-point lead, but Wake Forest was able to bring the set within one point at 19-18. That is the closest the Demon Deacons would get as they dropped the first set 25-21. Reed had a set-high six kills in the first.
The Demon Deacons would use the second set to respond to the first with a 25-20 victory, but it wasn"t easy. Things were tight at the beginning. After the match was tied 6-6, Davidson made a 3-0 run and gained a 9-6 lead. Two kills by Rachel Earnhart and an attack error by the Deacs forced coach Ken Murczek to call a timeout. After the break, Wake Forest fought back to tie the match and then take the lead with a 5-1 run that forced Davidson to call for time. Brianna Lynch had two kills and Rusk and Russell added one each during the run.
The Demon Deacons put themselves at a five-point advantage 21-16 and the Wildcats called another timeout. Out of the timeout, they clawed back into the match making it 21-18, but a 4-2 run to close the set gave the Deacs a 25-20 victory and tied the match 1-1. Russell and Lynch each had three kills in the set.
The Wildcats started the third set hot with a 3-0 run capped off by a kill by Michelle McNeight. However several errors by Davidson and highlighted kills from Russell, Long and Rusk gave the Deacs a 15-8 lead forcing a timeout. Wake Forest would mount another run 5-2, ending with a kill by Reed and making Davidson take another timeout. The Deacs would then outscore the Wildcats 5-3 and Russell's seven kills earned the team a strong 25-13 third set win.
Leading 2-1, it wouldn't be easy for Wake Forest to close out the match. It was a total team effort as each player contributed to a close 26-24 set victory. With the match tied at 24-24, Lynch recorded two thunderous kills to send the Deacs to a 3-1 win.
