Sports > November 8, 2007

By LK Davey | Staff writer

The women’s volleyball team had a rough weekend at Reynolds Gymnasium.

The Lady Deacons fell in three games to Florida State Nov. 2 and then again Nov. 3 to Miami. FSU downed Wake 31-29, 30-21, 30-25.

Prior to the game, there was a ceremony to honor junior Natalie Mullikin.

Head Coach Heather Kahl-Holmes presented her with a game ball in tribute of Mullikin breaking the school’s career block solos record Oct. 28 at Boston College.

Fittingly, Mullikin was also one of the spotlight players for the game. She turned in a team-high 13 kills, eight of which were hit in the first game, and hit .391 on the night.

Mullikin also added two block solos and a block assist. Freshman libero Megan Thornberry was the only Deacon in double figures for digs, finishing with 11.

Senior Michael Faulkner was next with nine digs, followed by freshman Kristen White who posted eight kills, as well as five digs, two aces and two block assists.

Junior Mary-Margaret Langston, a native of Tallahassee, Fla., chipped in with two service aces on the night.

Freshman setter Kelsey Jones dished out 29 assists to go along with three kills and three digs.

Freshman Lauren McIntyre finished the evening with six kills and two block assists. Miami also defeated Wake 30-22, 30-28, 30-27 Nov. 3. On the team level, Mullikin moved into second place on Wake Forest’s career total blocks list; she finished with three total blocks, including a pair of block solos, to move past Jessica Hood (1997-2000) for second place on Wake’s career blocks list.

Mullikin, who holds the school’s career record for block solos, has 366 total blocks for her career; Margaret Davidson (1998-2001) holds the record with 472. The Miami game also saw Mullikin lead the Deacons with 18 kills.

She hit .552 with just two errors in 29 attempts.

Other spotlight players included McIntyre and White, who turned in seven and six kills, respectively. White and sophomore Sara Uniacke each tallied two aces.

Langston made her first career start for the Deacons. Jones dished out 33 assists and recorded six digs. Sophomore Abby Miller and Thornberry tied for the team lead with nine digs each, while White was right behind with eight.

Thornberry, the Deacons’ usual libero, also had seven kills playing outside hitter.

At the end of the weekend, the Deacons fell to 7-18 overall and 4-12 in the ACC. The Canes improve to 11-14 overall and 5-11 in conference play and the ‘Noles move to 12-11 overall and 9-6 in conference play.

The Deacons will hit the road for a pair of matches next weekend, traveling to Clemson, S.C., and Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Ga. Wake will take on the Tigers 7 p.m. Nov. 8 and the Yellow Jackets 8 p.m. Nov. 9.