Nov. 8, 2009

Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - After dropping the first two sets, Wake Forest battled-back to force a fifth-set but No. 16-ranked Florida State regained control in the deciding set and would hold on for a 3-2 victory Sunday afternoon.

The five-set victory was the second straight for Florida State, who extended their ACC-lead to two matches with another five-set win over Duke on Friday night. FSU improves to 22-3 on year and 14-1 in the conference while Wake falls to 9-17 overall and 7-8 on the ACC.

Wake Forest junior Kristen White led all attackers with 18 kills on the afternoon which was a season-high. She also notched her fourth double-double of the year with 12 digs. Junior setter Kelsey Jones recorded her second-straight double-double by dishing out 47 assists and collecting 19 digs, which is one shy of her career-high. The double-double was the 11th of the season for Jones.

Sophomore outside hitter Kadija Fornah continued her solid play for the Deacons with 14 kills and five digs. She was coming off a career-best 22-kill performance on Friday night at Miami. The West Palm Beach, Fla., native has now recorded five-straight matches with 10 or more kills.

Stephanie Neville led four Seminoles in double-figure kills with 13 while Jordana Price chipped in with 11 and Rachel Morgan and Sareea Freeman each added 10. Price also totaled 10 blocks in the match as she had eight block assists and two block solos.

Setters Nikki Baker and Duygu Duzceler both had good matches for Florida State as Baker recorded a double-double with 25 assists and 12 digs while Duzceler was just one dig shy of her own double-double, finishing with 28 assists and nine digs. Libero Jenna Romanelli led the Seminoles in the match with 17 digs.

For Wake, junior libero Megan Thornberry tied Jones with a match-best 19 digs while senior Abby Miller added 14 digs, two service aces and two assists. Freshman Andrea Beck led the Deacs at the net defensively with a season-high tying seven total blocks to go along with her six kills and one service ace.

Middle blocker Carlin Salmon finished the match with eight kills and three blocks for Wake while junior Lauren McIntyre notched seven kills and four total blocks. Sophomore Cambrey Oehler saw action in all five sets and recorded eight digs and one kill.

Florida State came into the week with the best hitting percentage in the conference at .301 but the Deacs held the `Noles to just .201 on Sunday. Each team recorded five service aces in the match but the Seminoles held the advantage at the net, blocking 14 attacks compared to 10 for the Deacs.

The teams traded runs early on in the first set and neither side would take more than a two-point advantage until FSU went on a 3-0 run to break a 16-16 tie. The Seminoles would extend the lead to four at 21-17 and then would go on to win the first set 25-20.

Freeman had four kills in the set for FSU as White notched three kills for the Deacs. Jones also had eight kills and seven digs in the opening frame.

With the strength of that first set victory, FSU ran out to an early 7-4 lead in the second. The lead stayed around three until a pair of kills from Fornah and another by Beck evened the score at 15-15, forcing a Florida State timeout.

After trading attack errors, the hosts would get hot and go on a 6-0 run to take control of the set, 22-16. FSU would then go on to take the second set by the same score as the first, 25-20. Neville led all attackers in the set with four kills while White and McIntyre each had three kills for Wake.

The third set started out just like the first as neither team could shake free. The largest lead of the set came when Florida State took advantage of a couple of Deacon errors to build a 17-14 lead. Wake then got back-to-back blocks from Beck and McIntyre to help even the score at 17-17 only to see the Seminoles retake a two-point lead at 20-18.

Wake then scored three of the next four points thanks to kills from Fornah and White and a block from Salmon to take a 22-21 advantage, leading to an FSU timeout. The hosts were never able to even the score as kills from Beck and White gave Wake a 25-23 victory.

Fornah, White and Jones all had three kills in the set for Wake while Thornberry had eight of the team's 22 digs in the stanza.

Florida State came out in the fourth set with a purpose and again opened-up a 7-3 lead. But three-straight Seminole errors and kill from Salmon and White would pull the Deacons to within one at 10-9. Wake stayed on the attack as two kills from White along with kills from Fornah and McIntyre gave the Deacs at 14-12 advantage and forced FSU to burn a timeout.

The break was helpful for the Seminoles as they would score the next three points to retake the lead at 15-14. A kill by Fornah evened the score at 15-15 and the teams would trade sideouts until a block by Freeman and Neville followed by a kill from Neville gave FSU a 20-18 lead and it was Wake's turn to call timeout.

Just like the Seminoles did earlier in the set, Wake came out of the break and ran off three-straight points on a kill and a service ace from Beck along with a kill from McIntyre to take a 21-20 lead. Again, the two sides traded points until a kill by Salmon followed by a block by Salmon and Fornah gave the Deacons a set-point at 24-22. After a Florida State timeout, White registered her 15th kill of the match to give Wake a 25-22 victory.

The Deacons recorded a total of 17 kills in the fourth set and hit a match-high .286. White and Fornah combined for 11 of the team's 17 kills while Miller collected a total of six digs.

Wake started the fifth set with kills by Fornah and Jones to take a 2-1 lead but FSU responded with four-straight points to snatch a 5-2 advantage and force Wake Forest to burn its first timeout. Again, the break helped the Deacs as Fornah smashed home a kill while McIntyre and Beck followed with a block and White then evened the score at 5-5 with her first kill of the set.

That's when FSU's Brianna Barry, the conference's leader in hitting percentage, pounded-home two kills to give the lead right back to FSU at 7-5. A service ace from Morgan followed by an error by Fornah extended the Seminole lead to 9-5 and Wake was forced to burn its second timeout.

In a race to 15, a four-point advantage is huge and the 16th-ranked team in the country took full advantage, closing out the set and the match 15-9.

With the win, Florida State sweeps the season-series with Wake Forest and has now won nine-straight matches between the two teams.

Wake will continue to the road trip next weekend as it heads to the state of Virginia. The Deacons will face Virginia on Friday night at 7 pm followed by a 5 pm match in Blacksburg against Virginia Tech on Saturday.