Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
North Carolina Central
Wake Forest Crushes NC Central Comeback
9/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
By Andrew Wilson, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeVolleyball)
ELON, N.C. -- The Wake Forest volleyball team won its first match of the Elon Phoenix Classic on Friday afternoon with a 3-2 victory over North Carolina Central inside Alumni Gym.
The Demon Deacons dominated the first two sets on the way to building what was a commanding 2-0 lead with 25-15, 25-15 wins. The Eagles wouldn't go quietly, though, as NCCU stepped up its level of play and battled Wake Forest point-for-point through the next two sets, taking the third and fourth sets by the scores of 25-23 and 25-22.
In the decisive fifth set, the two teams traded points to reach 2-2, but Wake Forest went on a 6-2 run to build an 8-4 advantage over the Eagles. Following a timeout by the Deacs after NCCU pulled within two at 8-6, the Demon Deacons finished off the victory by going on a 7-2 run for a 15-8 set win that was helped by two kills from Matalee Reed, two service aces from Sophia Dodd and three NCCU attack errors.
Wake Forest was led by three players that posted double-figure kills. Reed finished with a team-high 16 kills while Brianna Lynch posted 12. Kylie Long posted a double-double in finishing with 15 kills and 15 digs. Hanna Lee nearly became the Deacs' fourth player with double-digit kills in posting nine while owning a .350 hitting percentage throughout the contest. She also finished with a team-high nine blocks.
Dodd and Rachel Burau helped anchor the Demon Deacon attack in posting 30 and 31 assists, respectively. Caroline Wolf posted a team-high 19 digs in the victory.
As a team, Wake Forest posted 70 kills to NCCU's 49. The Deacs hit .246 in the match while NCCU posted a .136 hitting percentage. The Demon Deacons outblocked the Eagles 13-8 in the contest and Wake Forest posted the only four aces of the match. Two of the final three points of the match came via aces off the hand of Dodd.
The difference in the first two sets was the attacking advantage for the Deacs. Wake Forest posted 14 and 15 kills, respectively, in the first two sets while NCCU had nine in each set. The Eagles level jumped up to the Deacs' in the third and fourth sets as NCCU posted 15 and 13 kills in the two sets. Though Wake Forest topped NCCU in kills in both the third and fourth sets with 17 and 16, errors caught up to the Deacs and helped the Eagles climb back into the contest.
In the fifth set, Wake Forest's attack took over and posted seven kills to NCCU's three. The Demon Deacons also posted three blocks in the set -- the most it had posted in a set since tallying four in the first set.
Wake Forest return to action tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. back in the Elon Phoenix Classic against Charleston Southern. Wake Forest will close out the tournament tomorrow night against host-Elon with first serve set for 7 p.m. in Alumni Gym.
