Volleyball Sweeps Wake Forest Invitational

Saturday, September 8

Winston-Salem, N.C.

11:00 A.M.

Wake Forest University

2-6

Georgia Southern

1-8

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Georgia Southern	23	22	25	25	11	2
Wake Forest	25	25	19	17	15	3

9/8/2018 11:13:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

The Deacons improve to 3-6 on the season

By: Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeVolleyball)

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest (3-6) earned its third consecutive win of the season as the Deacons defeated Georgia Southern (1-8) 3-2 and capped the weekend with a 3-0 win over Akron (6-3) on Saturday at Reynolds Gymnasium.

"We had some grit and fight to us," head coach Bill Ferguson said. "It was great that we won in straight sets tonight and we were able to close the door with all of the sets being fairly close. This morning (against Georgia Southern) we had to figure out a way to fight through and win. I thought Georgia Southern did a good job of exposing us, but to bounce back was an important thing for our team."

Caitlyn Della earned tournament MVP honors, while senior Hailey McFadden and junior Caroline Rassenfoss joined her on the All-Tournament team. Della hit a .462 against Akron and finished the tournament with 25 kills and 11 blocks.

Match one: Wake Forest 3, Georgia Southern 2
Sophomore Myca Mitchell continued to set a new career-high for kills as she powered the team over Georgia Southern with 15 kills. The Deacons faced their first five-set match of the season, and outlasted the Eagles 25-23, 25-22, 19-25, 17-25, 15-11. Rassenfoss tallied five kills in the first set while Olivia Saunders went 3-4 (.750).

Wake Forest took the first two sets of the match, but Georgia Southern stormed back to even it up at 2-2. The Deacons hit a match-high .294 in the first set and a .057 in the second set. However, the Eagles recorded only five kills with 10 errors in the second frame as the Deacons found themselves just one set away from the win.

The battle didn't stop for Georgia Southern as the Eagles took set three 25-19 and set four 25-17. Mitchell posted six of the team's 13 kills in seven attempts (.857) in the third set, but that wasn't enough as Georgia Southern strung together as slightly better set. The fourth set also went in the Eagles favor as they out-killed the Deacons 14-9 with a .367 attack percentage.

Errors plagued Georgia Southern in the final set and Wake Forest capitalized. The Deacons went on an early 4-0 run to take a 5-3 lead. The Eagles tied the frame at 5-5, but Della and Rassenfoss took control to lead the Deacons to the 15-11 win to take the match.

Match two: Wake Forest 3, Akron 0
The Demon Deacons capped an impressive weekend with a 3-0 sweep over the Zips on Saturday evening. The match was highlighted as the Deacs posted 13 blocks tying for fourth all-time in three set matches. Seven of the 13 blocks came in the first set as Madeline Holt posted four assisted and one solo, and Della added three assisted. Setter Madeline Holt recorded a career-high six assisted blocks and tied a career-high with two solo stops.

Wake Forest got off to a commanding start, holding Akron to a -.107 attack percentage and just 12 points. Caroline Kuhn was the force at the net in the first set with five kills in six attempts (.833).
Akron rallied in the second set of the night, but fell short as the Deacons were more efficient at the net. Both teams recorded 12 kills, but Akron's 10 errors kept the momentum on Wake's side of the court. Although Akron battled back, Wake Forest maintained control of the lead for the entire set.

The Deacons prevailed with a 25-21 set three win to clinch the match and the tournament championship. Mitchell, Della and Rassenfoss all tallied four kills in the final set. The Deacons held the Zips to 11 kills, while Wake posted 17 in 30 attempts for a match-high .367 attack percentage.

Wake Forest will close out tournament play on the road at the Mountaineer Classic hosted by West Virginia. The Deacs will face Penn on Friday at 3 p.m. and Morehead State and West Virginia on Saturday at 1 and 7 p.m.