Deacons Drop Midweek Matchup at Duke

DURHAM, N.C. – On the road in state for its penultimate showing of the regular season, Wake Forest volleyball took on Duke during Wednesday afternoon (Nov. 27) inside Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Demon Deacons (13-17, 5-14) suffered a 3-0 loss to the host Blue Devils (10-20, 6-13).

The matchup involved Wake Forest's fifth Big Four outing of the fall.

Emma Farrell continued her display of defensive prowess with a match-high 16 digs. She additionally chipped in seven assists. Tina Grkovic impressed defensively as well with five blocks – a mark that led all individuals.

Sahara Maruska paced the team's attacking tempo with 10 kills on a .417 hitting percentage. The graduate student also contributed seven digs. Paige Crawford and Olivia Franke finished with eight and five kills, respectively.

Becca Bellows tallied 12 assists and four digs.

How it Happened

Duke used a pair of service aces to take an 8-3 lead after set one opened.
Kills from Dior Charles and Sahara Maruska, back-to-back ones by the former, gave the Deacs some momentum in their scoring, trailing 14-10.
- The Blue Devils then tacked on three consecutive points to up their advantage to a seven-point lead before the next timeout took place.
Laila Ricks came out of the floor break hot with two kills in a row.
A 4-1 push put the host at set point.
- Wake Forest was able to add three straight points afterward, highlighted by a Becca Bellows ace.
Duke ultimately finished off the first set on a 25-18 victory.
- Emma Farrell and Maruska had four digs and three kills, respectively, in the opening frame.
Seeing the Blue Devils suffer a few errors, Wake led 6-3 early in set two.
- Duke soon posted four points consecutively to take a slight 7-6 lead.
The two sides went back and forth for a few rallies before Duke scored four unanswered, going up 12-9.
- The Deacs subsequently took a timeout.
Maruska and Santer chipped in kills for the Deacs, but Duke stayed ahead through another dozen possessions (19-12).
- The former, along with Paige Crawford, added a few more successful swings, as Tina Grkovic additionally made rejections at the net.
Duke was able to win the set, 25-16, and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
- Grkovic had three blocks at the time.
Set three started off evenly-played, as Crawford knocked in a kill to bump her Deacs ahead 6-5.
Much of the same continued before the Blue Devils found a bit of room on a three-point gain.
- The host led 15-10 at the media timeout.
Crawford took over in her hitting to keep her squad close by, as points were traded over the next several minutes.
- Wake trailed by a single point, 18-17.
Planting a handful of kills, Duke stepped ahead on a 6-1 boost.
Maruska bounced a pair of kills before teaming with Grkovic on a block and forcing a Blue Devil timeout.
Duke reached match point on a hit from the left side and did the same on the very next play to win set three on a 25-22 mark, capturing the match win.
Wake Forest fell, 3-0.

Additional Notes

Wake Forest and Duke met for the 77th time in series history on Wednesday afternoon.
Emma Farrell had her 14th season performance of 15-plus digs.
- The junior libero entered the match ranked seventh in the league in digs-per-set average (3/98).
Tina Grkovic totaled five or more blocks for the 10th time this season.
- It was also her eighth time leading the Deacs in blocks for a single match.

From Coach Smart
"Credit to Duke, they played very well today within their offense. We were able to go point for point with them through several rallies, but could not quite jump in front the way we needed to. We hit pretty well, as a whole, and could have benefited off of creating more opportunities for ourselves. Defensively, we looked solid in our blocking at times."

Up Next
The Deacs will hold their regular-season finale on Friday (Nov. 29), hosting No. 21 Florida State for a 1 p.m. tilt. The match can be viewed on ACC Network Extra. Wake Forest matched up with the Seminoles in Tallahassee earlier this month.

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Team Stats

Maruska Sahara

Paige Crawford

Franke Olivia

Ricks Laila

Players Mentioned

Becca Bellows

Dior Charles

Paige Crawford

Emma Farrell

Olivia Franke

Tina Grkovic

Sahara Maruska

Laila Ricks

Wake Forest Athletics