Nov. 21, 2009
WINSTON-SALEM, NC - Wake Forest celebrated senior night in grand fashion, knocking off NC State in three sets, 25-22, 25-15 and 25-16. Junior Kristen White led the Demon Deacons with her fourth double-double in the last five matches. The win improves the Deacons to 11-19 overall and 9-10 in the conference while the loss was the 21st-straight for the Wolfpack, who are now 7-27 overall and 0-19 in the ACC. Seniors Abby Miller, Sally Fischer and Kate Rodriguez all played their final home match Saturday evening and all three were on the floor for the final point. Miller finished the night with eight digs and two assists while Fischer dished out one assist and Rodriguez recorded her first kill of the season to go along with three digs. One night after collecting a career-high 25 digs, Kristen White continued to be aggressive defensively, notching 11 digs and was the only Demon Deacon in double-figure kills with 10. The double-double was White's seventh of the season. Junior setter Kelsey Jones had another solid match, dishing out 31 assists and collecting five digs. Libero Megan Thornberry tied White with a team-high 11 digs while sophomore Cambrey Oehler chipped-in with five. Offensively, the Deacons hit a solid .275 with 42 kills and just 14 errors. Freshman Andrea Beck put-away nine kills and hit .475 to go along with two block solos while junior Lauren McIntyre and sophomore Carlin Salmon each added seven kills. Lisa Kretchman led the Wolfpack with a match-best 11 kills on just two errors for a .391 hitting percentage. Kelly Wood recorded 14 digs in the match while Margaret Salata chipped-in with seven kills and two blocks. The teams traded blows early in the first set but with the score tied at 8-8, kills by NC State's Keri DeMar, Wood and Salata gave the Wolfpack a 4-0 run and a 12-8 lead. But the Deacons would counter with a 7-0 run of their own to grab the lead right back at 13-12. White started the run with a kill while Kadija Fornah also added a pair of kills during the spurt. The back-and-forth battle continued as kills from Salata and Sarah Griggs helped NC State tie the score at 15-15 but a 4-1 Wake Forest run, capped by a kill from Beck, would give the Deacons at 20-17 lead. That was a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way, taking the set 25-22. White, McIntyre and Salmon all had four kills in the set for Wake while White also collected eight digs. Kretchman led all attackers in the opening frame with six kills. Kills from Salmon, Jones and Fornah gave the Deacs an early 4-1 lead in the second but just like the first set, NC State came back to tie the score at 8-8. However, that was when the wheels started to come off for the `Pack as a kill from White sparked an 8-0 Demon Deacon run, a run in which NC State committed six errors. Three-straight kills from White, Beck and Jones allowed the Deacs to push the advantage to nine at 21-12 and they would eventually go on to win the set 25-15. White had another three kills in the set while NC State managed just seven kills with eight errors for a -.033 hitting percentage. The break didn't slow Wake's momentum as the hosts ran out to an early 9-3 lead and would never look back. Salmon, Beck and McIntyre would all add a pair of kills as the Deacons extended the lead to 20-7 and would go onto to finish the set and the match 25-16. Beck totaled five of her nine kills in the set while Miller had four digs and freshman Megan Carnell came on to dish out two assists. The Deacons have now beaten NC State 23-straight times dating back to 1997 and swept the season series. Wake will look to tie the school-record for ACC wins in a season with 10 as it finishes the season Tuesday night in Durham against Duke. The Blue Devils are second in the conference with a 25-5 record heading into action Saturday night.
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