Deacs Battle No. 7 Louisville, Bellows Reaches Career Milestone

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest volleyball took on the No. 7 Louisville Cardinals during Sunday afternoon, making a fourth-straight appearance on its home floor. The Demon Deacons (11-14, 5-9 ACC) gave a collective two-way effort and won the second set, but fell short in a 3-1 finish to the visitors (20-4, 12-2 ACC).

During set two, sophomore Becca Bellows reached her 1,000th career assist. The Wheaton, Ill., native has recorded double-digit assists in all but one of the team's 25 matches this season, including 12 showings of 20-plus. Bellows finished with 17 assists on the day.

Graduate student Ryleigh Whitekettle led the Deacs in kills with 11. The right-side hitter posted a .364 hitting percentage while adding four blocks. Senior Paige Crawford chipped in 10 kills and four digs.

Freshman Ivana Cvetkovic again made an impact on the defensive end, finishing with a team-high six blocks.

Senior Emma Farrell paced the Demon Deacons' defense with a team-best 12 digs. Joining her in the back line, sophomore Dhru Lalaji added six digs and a pair of service aces.

Junior Patrycja Lagida totaled nine kills and eight digs while senior Rian Baker was also close to a double-double (19 assists and eight digs). Redshirt junior Sanaa Williams went 9-for-15 on attacks with only one error (.533).

How it Happened

Wake won the first point of the match on a Patrycja Lagida tip.
Lagida recorded her first ace of the match to push the Deac lead to 5-2.
A 6-0 Louisville run brought the score to 9-6 and forced the first Wake Forest timeout of the day.
Wake won their first challenge of the day, as Ryleigh Whitekettle recorded her second kill to make it 20-11.
Lagida tallied her team-leading third kill of the afternoon, making it 21-12 in favor of the Cardinals.
Ivana Cvetkovic posted Wake's first block of the day for another Deac point.
- It was quickly followed by an ace from Paige Crawford to bring the Demon Deacons within eight.
The Cardinals secured the first set, 25-16, on the longest rally of the day.
Whitekettle got the Deacs on the scoreboard in set two with a block. That was followed by a Louisville ball-handling error to draw the score level at two.
A Sanaa Williams kill leveled the set at 6-6.
Crawford powered her fourth kill of the match past the Louisville blockers to give the Deacs a 10-9 lead.
A four-point Demon Deacons run brought the score to 15-13 in favor of Wake and forced a Louisville timeout.
After a short Louisville run, Williams split the Cardinals defenders to level the match back up at 16 apiece.
Strong play at the net from Whitekettle and Cvetkovic helped propel Wake Forest back in front. The Demon Deacons led 20-19 as Louisville took their second timeout of the set.
Whitekettle and Lagida provided two more kills to bring the lead to 22-19. Louisville quickly called another timeout.
Louisville sailed consecutive shots out of bounds, bringing the Deacs to a set point.
A tremendous dig from Emma Farrell and a smart tip from Lagida wrapped up set two for the Deacs, 25-20.
Whitekettle continued her strong day with a middle kill to open the third set.
Wake stretched the lead to 8-2, thanks in part to a pair of aces from Dhru Lalaji and some fantastic digs from Farrell.
After trading points back and forth, another great touch shot along the line from Lagida brought the Deacs halfway home (13-10).
Some unforced Wake errors and stellar Louisville hitting brought the Cardinals back into the game, as the visitors took a 17-14 lead before a Williams kill stopped the bleeding.
- Consecutive Louisville blocks made it 20-16.
Louisville secured the third set after capitalizing on a late flurry of points, 25-18.
Wake started set four ahead 3-2, thanks to Cvetkovic's fifth block assist which led to a Whitekettle kill.
- Shortly after, Lagida drove home her eighth kill of the afternoon.
Balanced play from the Cardinals and a few errors from the Deacs led to a 12-7 Louisville advantage.
Williams subbed back in and immediately made an impact, charting her ninth kill of the day.
Wake cut the lead to five after a lengthy point, capped by Whitekettle's tenth kill of the match. 19-14.
Blocks and kills allowed Louisville to win the fourth by a score of 25-17, earning the match victory.
Wake Forest fell, 3-1.

Standout Stats

Four Deacs contributed nine or more kills:
- Ryleigh Whitekettle – 11
- Paige Crawford – 10
- Patrycja Lagida – 9
- Sanaa Williams – 9
A trio of Wake individuals stood out defensively with eight-plus digs:
- Emma Farrell – 12
- Rian Baker – 8
- Patrycja Lagida – 8

Additional Notes

Wake Forest and Louisville stepped into a 19th all-time meeting on Sunday afternoon.
Becca Bellows became the second Demon Deacon to notch a significant 1,000-plus milestone this fall, joining Emma Farrell, who reached over 1,500 career digs on Sept. 10 at Alabama in the 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge.
Rian Baker is nearing 2,500 career assists, only needing five more.
Ryleigh Whitekettle reached over 700 career kills during the contest.
Ivana Cvetkovic made her third season start, coming off her first in conference competition on Friday versus Notre Dame.
- The freshman middle blocker totaled 13 blocks through the weekend's two combined matches.
Rian Baker reached over 700 career digs on Sunday.

From Coach Hulsmeyer
"I want to give thanks to our home crowd again for showing up and creating a wonderful atmosphere," said head coach Jeff Hulsmeyer. "We have the best fans and it is amazing to see the support we receive every time we compete in our gym. As far as the match, I was proud of our effort and the will we showed to stay in it, earning that second set and getting off to a strong start in the third. Louisville did well in creating leads near the end of sets, being able to hang on. Our defense played with hustle and we saw solid play offensively from several players. Now, going on the road for the next couple of weeks, we will need to focus when we begin to travel, don't have a cheering home crowd, and much more that all goes into road play. I'm excited to see how we respond."

Up Next
The Deacs start a two-week road stretch next, first heading out of state for matches at Syracuse (Nov. 14) and Boston College (Nov. 16).

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Deacs Battle No. 7 Louisville, Bellows Reaches Career Milestone

Next Event

Team Stats

Ryleigh Whitekettle

Paige Crawford

Sanaa Williams

Patrycja Lagida

Players Mentioned

Rian Baker

Becca Bellows

Paige Crawford

Ivana Cvetkovic

Emma Farrell

Patrycja Lagida

Dhru Lalaji

Ryleigh Whitekettle

Sanaa Williams

Wake Forest Athletics

Deacs Battle No. 7 Louisville, Bellows Reaches Career Milestone

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Next Event

Team Stats

Game Leaders

Ryleigh Whitekettle

Paige Crawford

Sanaa Williams

Patrycja Lagida

Players Mentioned

Rian Baker

Becca Bellows

Paige Crawford

Ivana Cvetkovic

Emma Farrell

Patrycja Lagida

Dhru Lalaji

Ryleigh Whitekettle

Sanaa Williams

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