Deacs Fall Just Short in Five-Set Showing at Iowa State

AMES, Iowa – Day one of Iowa State's 2024 Cyclone Invite for Wake Forest volleyball (2-2) featured a toe-to-toe battle between the Demon Deacons and host team (3-1) during Friday night (Sept. 6). The result ultimately was grabbed by the Cyclones, escaping with a 3-2 victory (14-25, 25-20, 25-23, 13-25, 15-17).

Olivia Murphy and Paige Crawford paced the offensive attack with 11 and 10 kills, respectively, with the latter adding five digs. Sahara Maruska added nine kills and seven digs.

A trio of Deacs had eight or more digs – led by Emma Farrell's 11. Becca Bellows collected nine of her own and was just short of a double-double, chipping in 11 assists. Rian Baker finished with 26 assists, eight digs and three service aces.

Dior Charles led all individuals with four blocks.

How it Happened

Friday night's first kill went to Paige Crawford, assisted by classmate Emma Farrell.
Wake Forest suffered a few early attacking errors, giving Iowa State a 5-1 start.
After the evening's first timeout, the Cyclones scored three more times before Olivia Franke checked in for the Deacs.
- Laila Ricks then made a high leap to give her squad a second kill.
Crawford nailed another kill of her own, as Olivia Murphy and Rian Baker both entered the contest.
A quick 3-0 run happened for Wake Forest, beginning with a Cyclone service error and followed by a solo block from Tina Grkovic, capped with a Baker/Sahara Maruska block.
Grkovic soon lined an ace, as the Deacons scored on three of the next four possessions.
Iowa State steadied control, however, mounting kills to go up 20-10 in the opening frame.
- Three errors in a row happened for the host before reaching set point on an outside kill.
Iowa State ultimately secured set one on an ace, 25-14.
Beginning with a 3-3 tie to open the second period, Dior Charles produced back-to-back plays of a kill and block to give Wake Forest a slight edge.
Strong attacks continued to be traded between the two sides, as Iowa State stepped in front, 10-8.
- Maruska had an answer, set up by Farrell on the left side of the court to even the margin.
Neither team took a major leap ahead, with the set seeing a handful of tied scores and one-point gains.
Charles slammed down another ball right before the media timeout was reached (15-14 for Wake Forest).
Baker handed out an ace and a pair of Cyclone errors gave the Deacs their biggest lead of the night, 19-15.
With help from Grkovic, Wake Forest showed confidence at the net, forcing another Iowa State timeout, as the host went down 21-17.
Immediately after an unsuccessful Cyclone challenge, Grkovic delivered the Deacs' third ace of the frame, reaching set point.
Maruska finished the second with a strong kill, giving Wake Forest a 25-20 victory and evening the match at 1-1.
Murphy kicked off the third with two punches.
- Similarly to set two, rallies again went back and forth early on (7-7).
Much of the same continued, before several errors began to hurt Iowa State.
- Wake Forest took advantage to create a 16-13 lead.
The Cyclones regrouped in a timeout, followed by a Murphy kill as soon as action resumed.
Iowa State again was unsuccessful on a challenge attempt but nevertheless found a way to shrink the deficit to one (20-19).
- A hit from the middle tied the board in the third and led to a timeout break.
Three of the next four possessions were grabbed by Wake Forest, as the team was able to get the Cyclones in a scramble.
Crawford powered a hit to reach set point (24-21).
Baker connected with Grkovic to secure the third, 25-23.
Crawford took charge as set four unfolded, landing kills.
In familiar fashion, things were tightly played – standing even at 7-7.
Swings by Iowa State soon gave the host a three-point gain.
- A 4-1 burst then upped the Cyclone's lead to 17-11 in set four.
  - Wake Forest called for a timeout.
Iowa State only let up two points down the stretch, stepping into set point on a right-side kill and then winning the period on an ace, 25-13.
Crawford, Grkovic and Baker all gave the Deacs points to open set five on a 3-0 mark.
'Seesaw play' carried right into an 8-7 lead for the Cyclones.
- After switching ends, Iowa State went up 11-9 on consecutive kills.
The Deacons refused to go away quietly – making a big block to put the score at 13 all.
Match point was reached by Iowa State on a timely kill fresh out of a timeout.
The fifth briefly went into extra points, but Iowa State was able to finish out on top with a kill and ace.
Wake Forest fell, 3-2, to Iowa State.

Additional Notes

Friday night's meeting was the first one ever between the Deacons and Cyclones.
Paige Crawford is now only three digs away from reaching 500 for her career.
Laila Ricks is close to reaching 500 career kills, only needing four more.
Standing at 53 total digs through four season matches and 16 sets played, Emma Farrell only needs six more to reach 1,000 for her collegiate career.
Senior captain Kalani Whillock made her season debut for the Deacons during Friday night, playing in three sets.
Rian Baker is up to a team-leading 11 aces, having already plugged in three or more in multiple showings this fall.

From Coach Smart
"Very physical and competitive match tonight. I felt we put ourselves in a place to get what we wanted, but we need to learn from this moving forward in closing out the way we need to. We also cannot afford to focus on tonight's result too long, as we have a talented Toledo team showing up in hours. Ever since we hosted them last season, we knew this would be a neutral rematch we need to come ready for."

Up Next
The Deacs have a quick turnaround – next facing Toledo on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 7) for a 1 p.m. ET contest in its continuation of South Carolina's hosted invitational. The match can again be viewed on ESPN+.

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Deacs Fall Just Short in Five-Set Showing at Iowa State

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Team Stats

Olivia Murphy

Paige Crawford

Maruska Sahara

Grkovic Tina

Players Mentioned

Rian Baker

Becca Bellows

Dior Charles

Paige Crawford

Emma Farrell

Olivia Franke

Tina Grkovic

Sahara Maruska

Olivia Murphy

Laila Ricks

Kalani Whillock

Wake Forest Athletics

Deacs Fall Just Short in Five-Set Showing at Iowa State

Related News

Next Event

Team Stats

Game Leaders

Olivia Murphy

Paige Crawford

Maruska Sahara

Grkovic Tina

Players Mentioned

Rian Baker

Becca Bellows

Dior Charles

Paige Crawford

Emma Farrell

Olivia Franke

Tina Grkovic

Sahara Maruska

Olivia Murphy

Laila Ricks

Kalani Whillock

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