Wake Forest Volleyball Team Will Travel East to Face NC State and North Carolina
Demon Deacons in a four-way tie for fourth place in the ACC
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest volleyball team will look to make a move in the ACC when it travels east to play NC State and North Carolina on Thursday and Friday.
The Demon Deacons will take on the Wolfpack on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Raleigh before playing the Tar Heels on Friday at 7 p.m. in Chapel Hill.
Wake Forest is currently 14-9 overall and 7-6 in ACC action. The Deacs find themselves in a tie for fourth place with Miami, Florida State and Maryland who all have identical records. North Carolina sits atop the ACC at 11-2 along with Duke, while Georgia Tech is in third place by itself with an 8-5 record.
As has been the case over the last five weekends of ACC action, the Demon Deacons split a pair of conference contests last week. Georgia Tech defeated Wake Forest 3-0 on Oct. 29, and the Deacs defeated Clemson 3-1 on Oct. 30.
Against the Yellow Jackets and the Tigers, junior Kadija Fornah led the offensive attack with 24 kills and four aces. Fellow junior Carlin Salmon also had a nice pair of matches with 17 kills and 13 total blocks.
Fornah also leads the team on the year with 259 kills and 26 aces. Sophomore Andrea Beck is just behind her with 244 kills and is hitting a team-best .330 on the year. Beck has also contributed 73 blocks, while Salmon leads the team with 87.
Senior Kelsey Jones guides the offense with 650 assists from the setter position. She is also just six digs away from the 1,000-dig mark and would become the first person in Wake Forest history to have at least 4,000 assists and 1,000 digs if she reaches that mark. Jones currently sits at 4,092 assists for her career, good enough for second place in school history.
North Carolina defeated Wake Forest earlier in the season on Oct. 6 at Reynolds Gym despite the Deacons getting double-doubles from Fornah and sophomore Megan Carnell. Fornah had 18 kills and a career-high 16 digs in the match, while Carnell had 47 assists and 10 digs.
The Demon Deacons rebounded two days later to defeat NC State in four sets. Wake Forest benefitted from four Deacons in double-figure kills, including Beck who notched a career-high 19 in the match.
NC State (13-12, 3-10 ACC) is led by the duo of Margaret Salata and Luciana Shafer on offense. Salata has recorded 239 kills so far, while Shafer is just behind her at 226. Setter Megan Cyr leads the team with 894 assists, while Kelly Wood has a team-high 299 digs.
The Tar Heels (20-6, 11-2 ACC) have been solid at home with an impressive 11-1 record in Chapel Hill. Their only loss at home of the season came against then-No. 1 Penn State in the first match of the year.
Courtney Johnston leads a balanced Tar Heel attack with 276 kills. Christine Vaughen (225), Emily McGee (224) and Suzanne Haydel (203) have all surpassed the 200-kill mark already this season.
UNC’s Kaylie Gibson continues to lead the ACC in digs by averaging 5.39 per set. She has recorded a total of 496 on the year.
Wake Forest will next play out of conference on Tuesday, November 9, when NC Central visits Reynolds Gym at 7 p.m.
