Deacs Hold On in Five-Set Thriller Victory Over West Virginia

Saturday, August 31

Winston-Salem, N.C.

6 P.M.

Wake Forest University

1-1,0-0ACC

West Virginia

1-1,0-0Big 12

West Virginia

Wake Forest

Photo by: Helen McGinnis / Wake Forest Athletics

Deacs Hold On in Five-Set Thriller Victory Over West Virginia

8/31/2024 9:45:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

A first win of the season for Wake Forest volleyball!

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – During day two of its hosted invitational, Wake Forest volleyball (1-1) made a nice bounce back on Saturday night (Aug. 31), downing the West Virginia Mountaineers (1-1) in an exciting, five-set battle (25-15, 15-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-7).

It was the Demon Deacons' first win over West Virginia since Sept. 10, 2010.

Embracing a first start for the Deacs, graduate transfer Laila Ricks impressed with a match-high 13 kills on a .370 hitting percentage. She and fellow newcomer Tina Grkovic enjoyed standout defensive performances, as the latter reached a new career high in blocks (13). Ricks and Olivia Murphy added six and five (new career high), respectively. As a team, Wake Forest finished with an 18-9 advantage in blocks.

Finishing the night with 23 assists, Rian Baker reached over 1,500 for her career during the fourth set within the contest. The junior setter from Rolling Meadows, Illinois, became the 11th player within program history to achieve the feat. She also added a career-high five service aces, along with seven digs.

Five Deacs had seven or more digs, led by Paige Crawford's 14. Emma Farrell had 12 of her own.

Murphy and Sahara Maruska chipped in 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Freshman Becca Bellows made her first career start, plugging in 19 assists, seven digs and two aces.

How it Happened

West Virginia started the match with a pair of aces before Tina Grkovic and Laila Ricks teamed on a block for the Deacs.
Strong net protection and another punch by Ricks put Wake Forest ahead by one early, 5-4.
- Dior Charles then showed out on kills in back-to-back fashion.
Olivia Murphy began to catch fire in her attacks and Becca Bellows handed out a service ace, increasing the advantage to 11-8.
Grkovic then made a handful of plays – block, kill and ace – as the Deacons bumped their gain to 16-11.
A flurry of kills were traded, highlighted by a Sahara Maruska swing, and Wake Forest remained in front (20-14).
After the Mountaineers called a timeout, Grkovic immediately put down a big hit, followed by Bellows' second ace of the set.
Grkovic made another kill and connected once again with Ricks on a block to give Wake Forest a comfortable 25-15 set-one win.
- Ricks went 4-of-5 on her attacks during the first period while Crawford added six digs.
- As a unit, Wake Forest hit .552 from the floor.
West Virginia opened set two on an 8-3 clip, having some success in its serving game and blocks.
- Wake Forest took a timeout to talk things through.
Another kill by Sahara Maruska put Wake Forest back on track, followed by an ace from Emma Farrell.
Grkovic and Ricks continued to act as a forceful duo at the net, creating a one-point game (9-8).
A successful challenge by West Virginia had the team standing at 16-10 in the second.
- Grkovic and Ricks had five blocks apiece at the time.
Crawford next took off from the left, planting a kill out of a floor break.
Three kills, including a solo rejection, pushed West Virginia ahead by nine (21-12).
Aces happened on two of the Mountaineers' final three possessions, giving the visitors a 25-15 victory in set two.
Rian Baker went off early in the third set, lining three consecutive aces to put her Deacs up 7-3.
The Mountaineers kept close, dishing some aces of their own, along with strong swings.
Olivia Murphy skied for two kills in a row, and the score became tied at 10-10.
- Maruska did the same, and a hitting error by West Virginia gave the Deacons a slight 13-11 edge.
  - The visitors soon called for timeout, down 15-12.
Three kills and a solo block from Murphy headlined the next few rallies.
Charles put Wake Forest at set point and a Grkovic/Murphy block put an end to the period.
- At the time, Crawford had 11 kills and Murphy was 8-for-14 on attacks with only two errors (.429).
Opening set four, Baker again had a spree of aces, consecutively.
Both teams suffered attacking errors and Grkovic added to her line of blocks.
Crawford and Maruska took turns in their hits, leading to a Mountaineer timeout.
- Wake Forest led 9-3.
West Virginia worked to cut things down a bit, but Charles helped the Deacons keep in front (14-11).
- After the Mountaineers scored twice, Wake Forest signaled for a timeout.
A block by the visitors put them in front by one.
Action continued to go back and forth, tied at 18 all.
- Baker reached her 1,500th career assist on a set up to Grkovic.
Three kills put West Virginia at set point, as one more from the left capped the fourth, 25-22, for the Mountaineers.
- Four Deacs had six or more digs after four frames.
- Wake Forest continued to hit well – resting at a .412 attacking mark at the time.
Ricks brought power on a kill immediately as set five got underway.
- Her teammates followed suit, as the Deacs took a 5-2 start.
A Deacon block upped things to 8-4, as the two teams switched ends.
Defense proved to be the answer for Wake Forest – Grkovic, Crawford and Bellows all made a handful of plays.
Maruska had a timely ace to create a 13-5 advantage.
Ricks hammered from the right, and Wake Forest reached set point.
- The graduate transfer put the final nail down with one more hit to secure the win – 15-7 in the fifth.
Wake Forest defeated West Virginia, 3-2.

Standout Stats

A few Deacons reached new career highs on Saturday night:
- Total blocks – Tina Grkovic (13) and Olivia Murphy (5)
- Service aces – Rian Baker (5)
The Deacons collectively finished with 10 service aces – a match-best by the program since Oct. 30, 2022 at home versus Virginia (11).
Tina Grkovic's 13 blocks versus the Mountaineers were the most by a Wake Forest individual since Katie Moore's 10 at Notre Dame on Oct. 2, 2016.
Wake Forest outperformed West Virginia in every major statistical category:
- Points: 83.0 to 57.0
- Kills: 55 to 40
- Service aces: 10 to 8
- Blocks: 18 to 9
- Assists: 46 to 38
- Digs: 55 to 48
Rian Baker notched her 1,500th career assist versus West Virginia, reaching the milestone during the fourth set.
- She currently stands at 11th among all-time program individuals in career assists, sitting at 1,503.
Five players had seven or more digs:
- Paige Crawford – 14
- Emma Farrell – 12
- Sahara Maruska – 7
- Rian Baker – 7
- Becca Bellows – 7

Additional Notes

Wake Forest and West Virginia faced on Saturday night for the first time since Sept. 15, 2018, as this year's meeting was the sixth all-time matchup between the two sides.
The contest featured a first win over a Big 12 team for Wake Forest since at Central Florida on Sept. 2, 2023.
Tina Grkovic reached her 700th career kill in the match, doing so in set one.
Since the initial start of its yearly hosted invitational in August 2022, Wake Forest has gone 6-2 up to date in the event.
- Versus West Virginia (8/31/24) – W, 3-2
- Versus Hofstra (8/30/24) – L, 0-3
- Versus Grand Canyon (8/27/23) – W, 3-1
- Versus Northeastern (8/26/23) – W, 3-0
- Versus Toledo (8/25/23) – W, 3-0
- Versus Kennesaw State (8/27/22) – W, 3-1
- Versus Western Carolina (8/27/22) – L, 2-3
- Versus NC Central (8/26/22) – W, 3-0
Standing at 29 total digs through two season matches and eight sets played, Emma Farrell only needs 30 more to reach 1,000 for her collegiate career.
Becca Bellows and Laila Ricks made their first starts for Wake Forest on Saturday.
Up to date, through the head coach Randi Smart era, the Deacs have tallied a 37-8 record versus non-conference opponents.

From Coach Smart
"It was good to see the team rebound tonight. We challenged this group to start each set strong, knowing that we are going to have a lot of long matches ahead. We have a lot of talented players. We need to be vigilant as a group to become a talented team. It was a step in the right direction tonight for sure."

Up Next
Wake Forest will wrap its hosted invitational on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 1), taking on Navy in the weekend finale. First serve is set for 3 p.m. ET and the match can be viewed on ACC Network Extra.