Oct. 8, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - After getting off to its best start at home in school history, the Wake Forest volleyball team will head out on the road for its first two road ACC contests at Clemson and Georgia Tech this weekend. The Deacons will take on Clemson Friday at 7 p.m. and Georgia Tech at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Wake (13-4, 4-1 ACC) will be seeking its best start in school history against Clemson on Friday. This is the fourth time Wake Forest has started a season 13-4 and in each of the previous three occasions, the team dropped the next match, falling to 13-5. The Deacons will have a tough hurdle to clear if they want to make history as Clemson has won the previous four meetings between the two schools and hold a 22-9 advantage in the all-time series. The road doesn't get any easier as the Deacons head to Georgia Tech on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets have won 22 of the last 26 meetings in the series. One thing that may help the Deacs is momentum. Wake has won its last four matches and 10 out of its last 11. The Deacons snapped a nine-match losing streak with a 3-2 win over Duke last Tuesday before earning their 20th straight victory over NC State Friday evening. On Saturday, Wake took control early and rolled to a 3-0 victory over North Carolina giving the Deacs just their eighth win over the Tar Heels in the last 40 matches between the two schools. On top of the team's pursuit of a potential record win, graduate student Natalie Mullikin is just five total blocks away from tying Margaret Davidson's (1998-01) school record of 472 career blocks. She is also just 33 block assists away from tying Davidson's career block assist mark of 388. Mullikin also leads the team with 198 kills and both her .328 hitting percentage and 3.19 kills per set rank eighth in the ACC. Sophomore setter Kelsey Jones has had a tremendous season and has already moved into fifth all-time in school history with 1,742 career assists. Her 673 assists this season are tops in the conference along with her 10.68 assists per set.
Jones has also done a good job defensively, posting 183 digs which is second on the team. She has also recorded a total of ten double-doubles already this season. In the back row, junior Abby Miller and sophomore Megan Thornberry have played stellar defense all season. Thornberry tops the team with 286 digs and her 4.54 digs per set are third-best in the ACC. Miller is second on the team with 179 digs and 2.84 digs per set. Sophomore Kristen White and freshman Kadija Fornah have been the Deacs' two best hitters on the outside. White is second on the team with 160 kills while Fornah has chipped in with 144. White is also second on the squad with 11 service aces and she is averaging 2.52 digs per set. Senior Ashley Homitz is coming off perhaps her best three-match stretch, recording 30 kills, nine blocks and a .413 hitting percentage in the three wins last week. She tied a season-high with 10 kills against the Wolfpack on Friday before setting a new season-high with 11 kills and hitting a robust .611 in the three-set sweep of North Carolina. For the season, Homitz has recorded 97 kills, 35 total blocks and 25 assists. Sophomore Lauren McIntyre is also enjoying a solid season in the middle for the Deacs. She is second on the team in all three blocking stats, recording 12 block solos and 50 block assists. The Indianapolis, Ind., native has also recorded 88 kills and five service aces this season. Another bright spot so far has been the play of freshman Cambrey Oehler. She has started all 17 matches and has seen action in all 63 sets. She recorded five service aces against North Carolina and tops the team with a total of 14 aces on the season. Oehler has also posted 122 digs and 37 kills. After this weekend, the Demon Deacons will continue their road trip as they head to face ACC-leader Virginia Tech on Friday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. Wake will then head to Virginia on Sunday, Oct. 19 for a match beginning at noon. Scouting Clemson After dropping its first two ACC contests to Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech, Clemson has reeled off three straight wins, including back-to-back sweeps of Miami and Florida State last weekend. The play of senior Danielle Hepburn and junior Lia Proctor has been the key to the Tigers 11-5 start. Proctor tops the team with 217 kills and Hepburn is close behind with 213. The duo is second and third, respectively, in the ACC with 3.74 and 3.67 kills per set. Hepburn had a tremendous match against the Seminoles last Saturday, notching 12 kills with no errors on 17 attempts to hit an astonishing .706. Didem Ege leads the team with 254 digs and junior Kelsey Murphy has dished out a team-high 613 assists and is third in the conference at 10.57 assists per set. As a team, the Tigers lead the ACC with 2.84 blocks per set. They are also third in assists per set at 12.40 and fourth in both hitting percentage (.259) and kills per set (13.47). Clemson is the defending ACC Champions and were picked to repeat in the ACC Preseason poll this season, receiving 11 of the 12 first place votes. Scouting Georgia Tech The Yellow Jackets are 11-4 overall and 3-2 in the ACC after falling on four sets to Miami last Saturday. Georgia Tech is the top team in the conference in both hitting percentage (.274) and kills per set (13.88). Senior Talisa Kellogg is a big reason why the Yellow Jacket offense has been so successful this season. She tops the team with 158 kills despite playing in just 42 of the team's 57 sets. Her 3.76 kills per set are tops in the ACC. Along with Kellogg, the senior contingent for the Yellow Jackets has played big roles this season. Michelle Kandell leads the team with 241 digs and Callie Miller tops the team with 19 service aces along with her 145 kills. The duo of senior Allie Niekamp and sophomore Mary Ashley Tippins have guided Tech to 12.91 assists per set this season, which is tops in the ACC. Tippins has 371 assists and 71 digs while Niekamp has chipped in with 281 assists and 30 kills. Freshman middle Asia Stawicka leads the team with 59 total blocks and is second in the ACC with a .424 hitting percentage. |
