Stewart Goes for Career-High 24 Kills as Demon Deacons Fall in Five-Set Thriller to No. 24 North Carolina

Sunday, September 27

Winston-Salem, N.C.

4 p.m.

Wake Forest University

6-7,0-2ACC

North Carolina

7-3,2-0ACC

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
North Carolina	25	23	26	30	15	3
Wake Forest	21	25	24	32	9	2

PDF Box Score

Stewart Goes for Career-High 24 Kills as Demon Deacons Fall in Five-Set Thriller to No. 24 North Carolina

9/27/2026 7:51:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Freshman Lyla Stewart recorded her first career 20-kill performance as she finished with a 24-kill, 14-dig double-double against the Tar Heels.

By: KJ Smith

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Despite another career-high performance from freshman Lyla Stewart, the Wake Forest volleyball team (6-7, 0-2 ACC) dropped a five-set thriller to No. 24 North Carolina (7-3, 2-0 ACC) on Sunday afternoon in front of a record-tying 945 fans at Varsity Arena.

After setting new career highs in both kills and digs against Duke on Friday night, Stewart registered her first career 20-kill performance against the Tar Heels. The Powell, Ohio, native finished the match with 24 kills and 14 digs, marking her third consecutive double-double. She also added two assists, two blocks and two service aces.

Stewart has provided a major spark for the Deacs in her freshman campaign, totaling 142 kills on the season, including 72 in her last four matches.

Graduate student Ryleigh Whitekettle added another stellar offensive performance as she recorded 17 kills to go along with four digs and a block. Redshirt senior Sanaa Williams also reached the double-digit kill mark, logging 14 kills and a team-high five blocks.

Elsewhere, sophomore Amina N'Diaye notched eight kills and three blocks, while senior Laiya Ebo registered six kills and a pair of blocks off the bench.

Junior Becca Bellows logged a 34-assist, 10-dig double-double in her return to the starting lineup. Meanwhile, freshman Emma Keeping added 26 assists to go along with eight digs.

Senior libero Andrea Roman recorded her 13th consecutive match with double-digit digs, tallying 12 digs against North Carolina. Roman now leads the ACC with 223 digs on the season.

How It Happened

Freshman Lyla Stewart recorded her first kill of the match to make it 2-2 in the first set.
The Deacs and Tar Heels continued to trade points during the early stages of the set.
After North Carolina jumped out to a 15-10 lead, the Deacs capitalized on multiple errors and a service ace by Stewart to move within one.
Graduate student Ryleigh Whitekettle ended a short run by the Tar Heels to move the Deacs within four points late in the set.
UNC took the first set, 25-21.
Stewart rattled off back-to-back kills to give Wake Forest a two-point lead early in the second set.
Sophomore Sadie Poeck made it 8-6 with a kill.
- Stewart extended the lead to three moments later with her third kill of the set.
North Carolina tied the set at 15-15.
The Deacs went on a 3-0 run to take a four-point lead.
- Whitekettle notched back-to-back kills to push the Wake Forest lead to 21-19.
- Stewart ended the run with her 10th kill of the match.
Whitekettle hammered home another kill as the Demon Deacons won the second set, 25-23.
Wake Forest jumped out to an early 4-2 lead in the third set.
After the Tar Heels jumped out to a 14-10 lead, the Deacs claimed five of the next six points to tie the set.
- Redshirt senior Sanaa Williams and senior Laiya Ebo both tallied a pair of kills during the spurt.
The two sides continued to trade points as Stewart tallied her 16th and 17th kills to tie the set at 24-24.
The Tar Heels won the third set, 26-24.
Sophomore Amina N'Diaye tallied the first kill of the fourth set.
Stewart notched her 20th kill, a career high, to tie the set at 12-12.
Wake Forest capitalized on a pair of errors to tie the set at 24-24.
Williams ended the fourth set with a pair of kills as the Demon Deacons won, 32-30.
Sophomore Kelis Hawkins blocked a Tar Heel attack to open the fifth set.
North Carolina went on a seven-point run.
- Stewart ended the run with her 24th kill of the match.
The Tar Heels won the final set, 15-9.

Standout Stats

After logging a career-high 19 kills and 16 digs on Friday, freshman Lyla Stewart recorded her first career 20-kill performance against the Tar Heels.
- Stewart finished the match with her third consecutive double-double, logging 24 kills and 14 digs.
- The Powell, Ohio, native has notched 10 or more kills in each of her last four matches, totaling 72 kills during that span.
Senior Andrea Roman tallied 12 digs on Sunday, bringing her season total to 223 digs.
- Roman has now tallied double-digit digs in all 13 matches this season.
- The Humacao, Puerto Rico, native leads the ACC in total digs and ranks fourth in digs per set.

ACC Digs Leaders

Rank	Name	School	Total Digs
1.	Andrea Roman	Wake Forest	223
2.	Payton Petersen	Louisville	205
3.	Ivy Cooper	Virginia Tech	191
4.	Maya Evens	Notre Dame	190
5.	Zuzanna Maciejewicz	NC State	189

ACC Digs Per Set Leaders

Rank	Name	School	Digs Per Set
1.	Ivy Cooper	Virginia Tech	4.77
2.	Maya Evens	Notre Dame	4.52
3.	Payton Petersen	Louisville	4.36
4.	Andrea Roman	Wake Forest	3.84
5.	Zuzanna Maciejewicz	NC State	3.78

The Demon Deacons played in front of a record-tying 945 fans on Sunday afternoon at Varsity Arena.
- This matched the largest home crowd in program history, which was set last season against Duke.

From Coach Hulsmeyer
"It was a great battle today. When you get a ranked team like North Carolina and you take them to five sets, that's got to be a positive for us. We have to keep building. We can't be satisfied with just going five sets and playing really well against a great team. We need to be able to sustain this momentum and come away with some wins as we head on the road. We have to be able to get down to Miami and Florida State, two places we're very familiar with, and take the energy we had here."

Up Next
The Demon Deacons are set for their first ACC road matches of the season as they face Miami on Friday, Oct. 2, before taking on Florida State on Sunday, Oct. 4.