Sept. 19, 2008
BOONE, N.C. - Wake Forest got double-doubles from sophomores Kristen White and Kelsey Jones as well as a career-high 25 digs from Abby Miller to post a 3-1 win over Appalachian State on the first night of the Appalachian State Invitational. The Deacons dropped the first set 25-18 but rallied to win the next three sets 25-23, 26-24 and 25-21. The win was the fourth straight for Deacs, who improve to 7-3 on the season. The loss drops ASU to 2-10. White had a tremendous night posting season-highs of 18 kills and 17 digs. The double-double was the second of the season for White and the ninth of her career. She also had 29 service receptions without an error in the match. Jones also had a stellar match recording her fifth double-double of the season. The Ada, Mich., native dished out 48 assists and tied a career-high with 19 digs. Jones is the reigning ACC Volleyball Co-Player of the Week. The Deacons focus the past couple of weeks was on defense and tonight, it paid off as they recorded a season-high102 digs, 12 more than the Mountaineers. Miller had perhaps the most impressive night on defense, recorded a career-high 25 digs. Her previous career-high was 20 in a five-set match with North Carolina on Nov. 14, 2007. Graduate student Natalie Mullikin and freshman Kadija Fornah each notched double-digit kills in the match. Mullikin had 12 kills on 32 attempts and also added six total blocks. Fornah had 11 kills to go along with five digs. Lauren Swecker and Jordan Jesberg led the App. State attack with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. The first set was tied at 7-7 when App. State peeled off six straight points aided by a pair of service aces from Jesberg and two kills from Maggie Seeds. The Deacons could only pull within five at 15-10 as the Mountaineers cruised to the first set victory 25-18. Fornah had seven kills and Miller added seven digs in the set.
Wake opened the second set on a 7-0 run thanks to four errors by ASU and kills from Mullikin, White and freshman Cambrey Oehler. The Deacons would keep the Mountaineers at arms length for most of the second set ultimately taking a 21-14 lead. That is when ASU scored the next six points pulling to within one a 21-20. A kill by Homitz ended the run and the Deacs would recover to win the set 25-23 as Mullikin teamed with White and Homitz for a pair of block assists to close it out. The Deacons got three block assists from sophomore Lauren McIntyre to start the third set on a 10-6 run. McIntyre had another block later in the set and would finish the match with a total of six block assists. Wake would eventually stretch the lead to 19-14, forcing ASU to call a time out. The break helped stop the WFU run as App. State went on a 10-4 run of its own to pull within a point of the set victory at 24-23. But a kill from White tied the score and back-to-back kills from McIntyre gave the Deacons the 26-24 victory. Miller had another good set, recording seven digs. The fourth set was close throughout as neither team took more than a two-point lead. With App. State leading 19-18, Wake took timeout and promptly got a service error from ASU followed two kills apiece from McIntyre and Mullikin to take a 23-20 lead. Mullikin posted another kill to make the score 24-21 and the match ended on ASU's 33rd hitting error of the night. Both Mullikin and White had five kills in the final set. Both teams played solid defense in the match, as Wake recorded 12 total blocks to 10 for the Mountaineers. As a result, neither team had a hitting percentage higher than .150. Appalachian State hit .136 while the Deacons hit just .128. Wake will continue the invitational with a pair of matches on Saturday. The Deacs will take on Charlotte at 10 a.m. and North Carolina A&T at 4:30 p.m. Charlotte swept NC A&T in the opening match Friday 3-0. |
