Wake Forest Volleyball Will Celebrate Senior Night on Tuesday Against Duke
Seniors Kelsey Jones, Lauren McIntyre, Megan Thornberry and Kristen White will be honored before the match
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest volleyball team will host the Duke Blue Devils on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Reynolds Gym to wrap up the 2010 regular season. Prior to the match, the Demon Deacons will be honoring seniors Kelsey Jones, Lauren McIntyre, Megan Thornberry and Kristen White for their four-year commitment to the program. Admission for all spectators will be free for the contest.
During their four-year careers, the senior Deacons have posted 56 wins, including 34 wins in the Atlantic Coast Conference. In addition, they have led the team to two winning seasons and two 10-win seasons in conference play.
All of the seniors will be leaving ranked in the top-10 in at least one statistical category.
This season, Jones became the only player in school history to record more than 4,000 assists and 1,000 digs in a career. She ranks second in assists with 4,335 and sixth in digs with 1,057.
McIntyre has had her biggest impact at the net blocking, as she is ranked ninth or higher in three blocking categories. She is fourth with 293 block assists, fifth with 337 total blocks and tied for ninth with 44 solo blocks.
Thornberry will finish her career ranked second in all-time digs at Wake Forest. She currently has 1,808 and sits only behind Trina Maso de Moya who recorded 2,010 for her career. Thornberry greatly outdistanced Natasha Schaefer who is in third place all-time with 1,384 digs.
White has taken more attack attempts than any other Deacon who started their career in the 2000s. Her 3,370 swings rank her third all-time and she is currently tied for 10th place all-time with 918 career kills. She has also provided defense during her time, ranking ninth with 995 digs.
Adding support offensively to this solid group of seniors this season has been junior Kadija Fornah and sophomore Andrea Beck. The duo has led the team in kills all season long, as Fornah has recorded 314 kills and Beck has recorded 303 kills. Junior Carlin Salmon is also been productive in the middle with 245 kills.
As a team, the Demon Deacons have been better than their opponents in several statistical categories this season, including kills (13.20 k/s to 12.88 k/s), hitting percentage (.216 to .186), assists (12.44 a/s to 11.89 a/s), digs (16/21 d/s to 16.04 d/s) and total blocks (2.25 b/s to 1.98 b/s).
In the team’s first ACC match of the year, Wake Forest traveled to Durham and fell to Duke 3-0. Salmon, Fornah and Beck led the Deacs on that night with eight kills apiece. Duke’s Amanda Robertson led all players with 15 kills and had a .591 hitting percentage, while Christiana Gray had 11 kills and a match-high .667 hitting percentage.
The Demon Deacons currently are 18-12 overall and 10-9 in the ACC, sitting in a three-way tie for fifth along with Maryland and Georgia Tech.
A win over Duke would give Wake Forest its first victory over the Blue Devils since September 30, 2008 and would give the Demon Deacons their first winning season in ACC play under sixth-year head coach Heather Kahl Holmes. Wake Forest was last above .500 in the conference in 2003 when it finished with a 21-10 overall record and 10-6 record in the ACC
