Wake Forest University Women's Volleyball Wins a Five-Set Thriller Over North Carolina
Five different Demon Deacons posted 10 or more kills in the match
WINSTON-SALEM, NC – In front of perhaps the largest crowd ever in Reynolds Gym, the Wake Forest volleyball team took a 2-1 lead and held on for a thrilling five-set victory over visiting North Carolina Friday night.
The match could be summed-up by the fifth set as the Demon Deacons (10-19, 8-10 ACC) raced out to a 9-4 lead only to see North Carolina (15-14, 11-7 ACC) battle-back and take a 12-9 lead of its own. Wake then rallied behind a crowd of a little over 1,200 to finish the set on a 7-2 run and take the match 16-14.
The Tar Heels won the opening set of the night 25-22 but the Deacs responded to win both sets and two (25-18) and three (25-19) to take a 2-1 lead. A 7-1 run midway through the fourth set allowed UNC to seize the momentum and send the match into a fifth set with a 25-23 victory.
Like she has all season, junior setter Kelsey Jones shined for the Deacs, recording her fifth-straight double-double with a season-high 55 assists and 19 digs. She also notched five kills and five big blocks while guiding the offense to a .205 hitting percentage, which was the first time Wake had hit above .200 in the last four matches.
Junior outside hitter Kristen White also recorded a double-double in the match for Wake with a career-best 25 digs and 16 kills. She smashed her previous career-high of 16 digs, which came earlier this season at North Carolina. White also had a pair of key service aces in the second set.
Sophomore Cambrey Oehler has come off the bench and given the Deacs a spark all season and tonight was no exception. She played a great match in the back row, recording a career-high 24 digs and picking up one service ace. Her previous career-high for digs was 16 which came against Furman in the opening weekend.
Middle blockers Carlin Salmon and Andrea Beck controlled the play at the net for Wake as the duo combined for a total of 13 blocks and 26 kills. Salmon finished the night with 16 kills and six blocks while Beck tied her season-high with seven blocks and 10 kills.
Junior Lauren McIntyre and sophomore Kadija Fornah were the fourth and fifth Demon Deacons to record 10 or more kills on the night as Fornah put-away 13 attacks and McIntyre chipped in with 10. Junior libero Megan Thornberry finished the match with a total of 16 digs and five assists.
North Carolina was led by Emily McGee’s double-double as she totaled a match-high 21 kills and collected 15 digs. Setter Erica Behm also had a double-double for the Heels, dishing out 39 assists to go along with 11 digs. Middle blocker Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland chipped in with 12 kills and nine blocks, including five-straight in the fifth set.
Wake finished the match with season-highs in just about every category. The Deacs had a season-best 70 kills, 103 digs, 69 assists and tied a season-high with 13 blocks. Carolina had 53 kills with just a .148 hitting percentage to go along with 79 digs and 10 blocks.
The Demon Deacons would take an early 7-6 lead in the first set but that’s when UNC would go on a 6-1 run to take a 12-8 lead. Wake later countered with a 7-4 run of its own to level the score at 18-18, forcing a Tar Heel timeout.
Out of the break, McGee and Hanson-Tuntland each recorded kills to swing the lead back to Carolina and the ‘Heels would ride that lead the rest of the way for a 25-22 victory. McGee had six kills in the opening frame for UNC while McIntyre put away four kills for the Deacs.
With the score tied at 8-8 in the second, a pair of kills from Beck sparked a 6-1 Wake Forest run that saw the hosts snag a 14-9 edge. The lead would swell to as many as seven at 21-14 after Beck and Fornah hooked-up for back-to-back kills. The teams then traded sideouts the rest of the way as Wake took a 25-18 victory into the locker room. Beck had five of her ten kills in the set while White posted three kills and seven digs.
The third set was all Wake as it broke a 4-4 tied with a 10-2 run to take a commanding 14-6 lead. White had four kills during the spurt and Beck and McIntyre teamed-up for a pair of blocks.
A couple of kills from McGee and Hanson-Tuntland each would help trim the Demon Deacon lead to as little as three at 20-17 but a block from White and Salmon jump-started a 5-2 run for Wake to end the set 25-19. White had five more kills in the set while Jones dished out 13 assists and had four digs.
The fourth set was a back-and-fourth battle as the score was tied a total of 12 times and the lead changed hands six times. Neither team could grab much of an edge early-on until a pair of kills from White broke a 9-9 tie and eventually gave Wake a 14-12 lead. The Deacs then got a bit sloppy and McGee and Hanson-Tuntland pounced on the opportunity as each player had a pair of kills in a 7-1 run that gave the visitors a 21-17 lead.
A couple of kills from Salmon kept things close but the ‘Heels would eventually pull-out a 25-23 victory and force a fifth set. Salmon had eight kills and no errors in the set for a .727 hitting percentage.
Two kills from Fornah along with a pair of Demon Deacon blocks helped Wake grab an early 7-2 lead in the fifth set. The Deacs eventually took a 9-4 lead after the change-over and looked to be in cruise control but that's when Hanson-Tuntland took over. Her 12th kill of the night closed the gap to 9-6 and then she had her hand in five-straight blocks, capped-off with a huge block solo that gave Carolina an 11-9 lead.
Momentum had clearly swung the way of the visitors as a kill from McGee extended the advantage to 12-9 but back-to-back kills from White brought the crowd back into play and narrowed the lead to 12-11. Jones and Salmon then joined-up to block McGee’s next two attacks and now the Deacs were back ahead 13-12.
Both teams had spent their respective timeouts so UNC had no other way of silencing the crowd except for McGee to knock-home her 21st kill of the night to even the score at 13-13. After trading sideouts, an attack error from McGee gave Wake match point at 15-14 and after a nice dig from White out of the back row, Jones won the battle at the net with Hanson-Tuntland for the final point of the night.
Wake held Carolina to just four kills and eight errors in the final set while Jones dished out six assists and had three huge blocks.
The two teams have now split the season series each of the last two seasons with the home team winning each time.
Wake will now host NC State in its final home contest of the year on Saturday night. The Deacons will also honor their three seniors – Sally Fischer, Abby Miller and Kate Rodriguez – prior to the 6 pm match.
- WakeForestSports.com -
Arizona State University Women's Volleyball Pushes No. 11 Cal to A Tough Four Sets In 3-1 Loss
TEMPE, Ariz – Solid outings from Ashley Kastl, Sarah Reaves and Sarah Johnson weren’t enough to keep the No. 11 Cal Bears at bay as the Sun Devil Volleyball team fell in a tough 25-22, 22-25, 25-20 and 29-27 loss. The Sun Devils are now 13-14 overall and 3-12 in Pac-10 play while Cal improves to 18-8 and 11-5 in conference play.
Set one saw ASU come out ready to rumble as they pushed Cal to 11 tie scores and three lead changes in the set with Sarah Reaves killing four and Sofie Schlagintweit and Paige Mittelstaedt killing three apiece, but Hana Cutura’s six kills and Cal’s four blocks gave Cal the edge in the set as they took the win 25-22.
Set two proved that ASU was there to play as they rattled off a .222 attack percentage with four team blocks to hold back Cal to a .108 attack percentage with four kills from Ashley Kastl to lead the assault and four block assists from Paige Mittelstaedt to hold it down to lead ASU to a 25-22 win to tie it up 1-1 going into the break.
Cal throttled back in the third set with a .355 attack percentage as they spread the wealth with four different Bears dropping three kills apiece as ASU couldn’t hold them with a 25-20 win. Set four saw the Sun Devils battle hard as they looked determined to take the win with Ashley Kastl and Sarah Reaves taking five kills apiece and the Devils locking scores seven times and forcing six lead changes. In the end the effort just wasn’t enough as Cal squeaked out the fourth set for the win with a 29-27 win.
After the match, Head Coach Jason Watson stated, “I felt we competed well and put ourselves in a position to close out some sets, especially set 4. We’ve come a long this season, we just need to at the little details.”
The Sun Devils will close out their home slate tomorrow night as they set to host the No. 6 Stanford Cardinal tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in Tempe at Wells Fargo Arena.
Auburn University Volleyball Women Fight Arkansas To Five Sets, Falls 3-2
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Auburn volleyball squad battled a tough
five-set match with Arkansas, falling 3-2 (30-32, 25-22, 22-25, 25-20,
10-15) on Friday evening. The Tigers are now 15-14 overall and 7-11 in
the SEC, while Arkansas improves to 13-16 and 7-11 in conference play.
“It is always hard to come back on road,” Wade Benson, head
volleyball coach, said. It is a disappointing loss, but we have to keep
heads high move on.”
Freshman Sarah Bullock led Auburn offensively, tallying a career-best
21 kills and finishing with 12 digs for her seventh double-double on the
year. Junior Alyssa Davis recorded 11 kills and six blocks for Auburn,
while classmate Morgan Johns finished with 12 kills.
Sophomore setter Christina Solverson picked up her seventh
double-double of the season, recording a career-high 33 assists and
tallying 13 digs. Junior Liz Crouch led the Auburn defense with 19 digs.
That mark pushes her into third all-time at Auburn with 1,193 digs in
her career.
Jasmine Norton led all attackers with 28 kills for Arkansas. She also
finished with 12 digs. Amanda Anderson and Kelli Stipanovich tallied 15
kills each, while Kristin Seaton added 14 kills. Libero Phoebe Bautista
had a match-high 33 digs.
The two squads proved to be an even match from the start, battling
through the early parts of the first set. A kill from Jonelle Wallace
gave Auburn the early 5-3 lead, but Arkansas came back and tied the set
at six. A three-point run at 13 apiece gave the Tigers a slim advantage
that they held until the Razorbacks fought to tie the set at 20. From
that point on, the teams exchanged points and the lead until, locked at
30, Arkansas was able to rattle off the final two points to win the set
32-30.
A kill from Johns and a service ace by Lauren Mellor pushed Auburn to
an early 4-1 lead in the second set and a pair of Arkansas errors gave
the Tigers a 10-6 advantage. The Razorbacks came within one at 11-10,
but a kill from Bullock and another Arkansas error kept Auburn up at
13-10. The Tigers held on to their lead the rest of the set and a kill
from Kelly Fidero gave Auburn the 25-22 win.
The third set saw Arkansas go up 7-5 early, but a kill from Mellor
triggered an Auburn 4-2 run to tie the set at nine. The Razorbacks,
however, put together a rally of their own to jump out to a 17-13
advantage. A kill from Fidero and a pair of kills by Bullock brought the
Tigers within one at 18-17, but Arkansas pulled ahead to take the 25-22
set three win.
Auburn found itself down early in the fourth set at 6-3, but a pair of
kills by Fidero and another by Bullock tied the set at eight. At 12
apiece, the Tigers pushed a three-point run, highlighted by a service
ace from Sara Shanks, to go up 15-12. Kills from Davis, Wallace and
Mellor drove Auburn to a 19-15 advantage and a kill by Johns solidified
the 25-20 Tiger set four victory.
In the deciding set, a pair of kills from Johns gave Auburn a quick 2-1
lead, but Arkansas answered with a 6-1 run to go ahead 7-3. A kill from
Bullock brought Auburn with three at 8-5, but that is the closest the
Tigers could get as the Razorbacks took the match with a 15-10 win.
Auburn travels to Ole Miss to take on the Rebels Sunday at 1 p.m. The
match will be televised live by CSS.
Top Seed Southern Miss Picks Up 3-1 Win over No. 8 Houston in Final Match of Opening Tournament Action
HOUSTON, Texas – Sophomores Ashley Mell and Lauren Sears guided top seeded Southern Miss to a 3-1 victory over No. 8 seed Houston in the final day of opening action of the 2009 Conference USA Volleyball Championship inside Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston, Texas.
The Golden Eagles continues their historic season Southern Miss advances to the C-USA Tournament for the first time ever and only the second time in the history of the school when the Golden Eagles advanced to the semifinals in the 1985 in the former Metro Conference volleyball championships.
Mell, an All-C-USA first team selection, added 14 digs to go with 12 kills for her 14th double-double of the year. Also recording her league-high tying 20th double-double was sophomore setter Kelsea Seymour. Seymour, a Co-C-USA Setter of the Year, dished out a team-high 39 assists and totaled 14 digs in the victory. At the net, Sarah Jane Bowden collected seven blocks, while Sears tallied six and 11 kills.
In her final match in a Houston uniform, All-C-USA second teamer and senior Kinsey Cave led all Cougars with 12 kills, while adding two blocks. All-C-USA Freshman team member Jasmine Terry added 11 kills and four blocks. Freshman Tara Roenicke led the team with a match-best 44 assists and junior Amanda Carson finished with a match-best 20 digs.
Southern Miss will face No. 4 seed and host Rice Saturday at 4 p.m.
QUOTES:
Southern Miss Head Coach Ricci Luyties
On the match
"Well Houston came out and played really well. They're a good team that doesn't have a record that reflects that. They came out ready to play. The first two games and even the third game were really close but then I thought we started picking up our defense and blocking to close it out."
On preparing for Rice
"We've really only looked at this match as of right now, so we're going to back to the room and start figuring out what we want to do against Rice tomorrow. They played really well and we know that they're at home and are a great team so we have to play our best game. We're just get back to business tonight and try to figure out a game plan."
Houston Head Coach Bill Walton
On Houston's errors
We didn't cover very well. They were covering mainly our left front players and our left side hitter. I thought our hitters weren't getting things straight down and we needed to pick it up. A bunch of times the girl straight behind the block thought it was out."
Ohio State Women's Volleyball Buckeyes Defeat Indiana, 3-1 | ||||
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio State (22-8 overall, 10-7 Big Ten) women's volleyball team had four players record double-figure kills in the 3-1 (25-16, 25-20, 20-25, 25-22) victory at Indiana (15-16, 4-13) Friday night. OSU's Kristen Dozier had a match-high 15 kills against the Hoosiers with Katie Dull andAnna Szerszen posting 13 each and Emily Danks adding 10. Indiana's Kelsey Hall posted a team-high 13 kills with Ashley Benson adding 11 and Jordan Haverly 10. Ohio State held an early 9-6 lead before kills from Taylor Wittmer and Hall and an OSU error tied set one at nine. The Buckeyes responded with two kills from Dull and one from Dozier to take a 12-9 lead. At 14-11, a Jordan Haverly kill and an OSU error cut the lead to one at 14-13. Two Indiana errors and an ace serve from Dull gave Ohio State a 16-13 lead. After an Indiana timeout, a Hoosier error and a solo block from Danks opened a five-point lead for Ohio State at 18-13. At 20-15, two kills from Dozier and two Indiana errors gave the Buckeyes set point at 24-15. An OSU error stopped the set point at 24-16. Ohio State won the set, 25-16, with a Szerszen kill to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The Buckeyes hit .333 for the set to .188 for Indiana. A Sarah Mignin ace serve and an IU error opened set two for Ohio State with a 2-0 lead. A Hall kill cut the Buckeye lead to one at 7-6. Ohio State scored the next seven points starting with kills from Szerszen and Dozier and two Hoosier errors to make it 11-6. The run continued with two ace serves from Danks and a Szerszen kill to make the lead, 14-6. Ohio State held the lead reaching set point at 24-19 with a kill from Dozier. A kill from Hall stopped the set point at 24-20. OSU won the set, 25-20, on an Ashley Hughes kill to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Buckeyes hit .353 for the set to .303 for Indiana. Set three saw 10 ties and three lead changes before a final tie at 13-all. Indiana scored the next three points with an OSU error, a Haverly kill and an ace serve from Benson to take a 16-13 lead. A Kelli Barhorst-Danks block and an Indiana error cut the lead to one at 16-15. Hoosier kills from Wittmer and Hall and an OSU error opened a 19-15 Indiana lead. At 23-19, a Laura Matula ace serve made it set point for Indiana. An IU error stopped the set point at 24-20. Indiana won the set, 25-20, with a kill from Benson to cut the Ohio State lead in the match to 2-1. The Hoosiers hit .158 for the set to .152 for the Buckeyes. Tied at two in set four, kills from Szerszen and Danks gave Ohio State a 4-2 lead. A Benson kill cut the margin to 4-3. The Buckeyes, with two kills from Szerszen, an ace serve from Danks and an Indiana error gave Ohio State an 8-3 lead. Ohio State held a 14-10 lead when a Haverly kill, a Wittmer-Kelci Marschall block and an OSU error cut the margin to one at 14-13. At 15-14, an IU error, a Barhorst block and a kill from Dull gave Ohio State an 18-14 lead. Trailing, 21-16, two OSU errors and a Mary Chaudoin-Benson block cut the lead to two at 21-19. At 22-20, kills from Danks and Dozier gave Ohio State match point at 24-20. Indiana stopped two match points with a Haverly kill and a Wittmer-Haverly block to cut the lead to 24-22. The Buckeyes, with a kill from Szerszen, won the set, 25-22, to win the match, 3-1. Ohio State hit .282 for the set to .275 for Indiana. Ohio State hit .278 for the match to .231 for Indiana. OSU had a 55-51 advantage in kills and an eight-to-four margin in ace serves. OSU's Danks collected a match-high three ace serves. Indiana gave up 12 service errors to seven for Ohio State. At setter, OSU's Hughes recorded 44 assists in the match. IU's Whitney Granado had 22 and Chaudoin, 21 assists. Defensively, Ohio State had a 63-53 advantage in digs. OSU's Chelsea Noble recorded a match-high 20 digs against the Hoosiers. At the net, Indiana had a nine-to-five advantage in team blocks. Wittmer (one solo, three assists) and Benson (two solos, two assists) shared match-high honors with four blocks each. Ohio State closes out the road trip at 7 p.m. ET Saturday at Purdue (12-16, 4-13). ### OhioStateBuckeyes.com ###
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Balanced Attack Fuels No. 17 LSU Women's Volleyball Team to Sweep of Mississippi State
BATON ROUGE – Marina Skender, Brittnee Cooper and Michele Williams racked up a combined 40 kills on a scorching .388 hitting percentage to power the No. 17 LSU volleyball team to an efficient 3-0 sweep of Mississippi State [25-18, 25-21, 25-20] Friday at the Maravich Center.
Skender knocked 14 kills and tacked on 10 digs en route to her team-leading 13th double-double of the season. She has tallied a double-double in seven of her last eight outings. Cooper and Williams crushed 13 kills apiece as both attacked at over a .400 clip. Cooper also chipped in four blocks.
Sam Dabbs passed out a match-best 40 assists and added six digs as the Tigers remained in sole possession of second place and a half-match behind Kentucky in the overall SEC standings.
“Our middle blockers [Cooper and Williams], when we pass well, are awfully difficult to defend,” head coach Fran Flory said. “It’s tough because they’re two different styles so you’ve got to try to have the right type of middle blocker against each of them. It’s hard to have that. Our backcourt did a great job of controlling the ball, and Sam Dabbs did a great job of setting again.”
LSU (23-5, 17-2 SEC) has now won 16 of its last 17 matches and extended its winning streak to 29 over SEC Western Division opponents dating back to the 2006 season.
Lauren Waclawczyk corralled a match-high 19 digs, while Sam Delahoussaye and Lauren DeGirolamo accounted for eight digs each.
Caitlin Race recorded nine kills and Dorey Gray distributed 28 assists to go along with 11 digs to pace Mississippi State (8-22, 4-15 SEC), who had their two-match winning streak come to a close.
LSU closes out the home portion of its regular season schedule Sunday against Alabama. First serve is slated for 1:30 p.m. and the Tigers will honor their senior class following the match. Live video and live stats available in the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net. Fans also can follow in-match updates of the five-time SEC Western Division champions via www.twitter.com/lsuvolleyball.
Tickets are now on-sale at www.LSUSports.net/tickets, the official Web site of LSU Athletics. Tickets also can be purchased at the ticket office on the first floor of the Athletics Administration Building or by calling (225) 578-2184. LSU students, faculty and staff are admitted free with a valid LSU ID.
LSU volleyball is offering the Friends and Family Pass where fans receive four tickets, four hot dogs and four drinks for only $20.
