Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
High Point
Wake Forest Sweeps Day 2 of Panther Invitational
9/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Davidson Stats | Davidson Stats (PDF) 
| High Point Stats | High Point Stats (PDF)
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeVolleyball)
HIGH POINT, N.C. -- The Wake Forest volleyball team closed out the Panther Invitational with two victories over Davidson and High Point on Saturday at High Point's Millis Center.
The Demon Deacons picked up a 3-0 sweep of Davidson in Wake Forest's first match of the day before topping High Point 3-1 in the feature match on Saturday night that saw the two teams split the first two sets before the Deacs polished off the win by taking the final two sets.
Wake Forest improved to 6-3 on the season with the two wins and has now won five of its last six matches over the last two tournaments.
"We battled some adversity this weekend and it was great to see some players respond after Friday's performance," said head coach Ken Murczek. "I look forward to building on the momentum from this weekend and getting prepared to compete against three qualify opponents on our home floor this weekend."
In the Davidson match, Kylie Long led the way with 18 kills and a .405 attack percentage. Freshman Rachel Burau posted a double-double of 36 assists and 11 digs.
Both Long and Brianna Lynch hit over .500 in the first set and the pair combined for 12 of Wake Forest's 17 kills in the frame to lead the Deacs to a 26-24 win. The Demon Deacons outhit Davidson .314 to .171 as a team and played solid defense with five total blocks.
Early in the second set, Katie Moore put up a block on Emily Franklin to give Wake Forest a 6-5 lead and the Demon Deacons never looked back, rolling to a 25-15 victory. Wake Forest held Davidson to a -.108 attack percentage in the set.
In the third set, the Wildcats took a quick 6-2 lead but Wake Forest changed the momentum by spreading the ball around with kills from Boesch, Moore and Long that tied the set 6-6. Wake Forest took the lead for good at 15-14 on a kill by Boesch. Long followed with back-to-back points and the Deacs went on to win the set 25-21. Sam Boesch finished with nine kills and Lynch added eight kills. Caroline Wolf finished the match with 11 digs.
In the second match against High Point, Wake Forest was again led by Long with 22 kills and a .278 hitting percentage. Lynch added 13 kills while Boesch finished with 12. Burau capped a solid weekend with a career-high 51 assists to go with six digs while Wolf posted a team-high 27 digs.
The Demon Deacons hit .263 in the contest to High Point's .218. Wake Forest hit better than .300 in the first and fourth sets, hitting .312 in the first set and .367 in the final frame.
In splitting the first two sets of the match, both teams dominated the set it won before the Deacs took tightly-contested third and fourth sets. In the first frame, Wake Forest eased out to a 16-4 lead over the Panthers thanks in large part to seven kills from Long and 13 assist from Burau. Though the Deacs struggled in the second set, Wake Forest made it interesting down the stretch but High Point pulled out a 25-21 decision to even the match at 1-1.
As the third set got started, the two sides battled back and forth with 17 ties and six lead changes. With six kills from Long and four from Lynch, the Deacs ultimately took the tough third set by the score of 27-25. The fourth set started in a similar fashion as the two teams traded points until the score was 15-15. From there, though, the Deacs went on a 10-2 run when it mattered most to close out the set and the match.
For their efforts throughout the weekend, Long and Boesch were named to the Panther Invitational All-Tournament Team. Long posted a team-high 56 kills, averaging out to 5.09 kills per set, and 26 digs while Boesch totaled 24 kills and 17 digs with a .339 hitting percentage.
With the nonconference road schedule in the rearview mirror, the Demon Deacons will play at home on Friday, Sept. 18, for the first time this season when it takes on Georgia in the Deacon Classic. In the tournament, Wake Forest will welcome the Bulldogs, Hofstra and VCU.
