Sports > November 3, 2004

By Boomer Kennedy

Old Gold & Black Reporter

The volleyball team split a pair of home conference matches last weekend, sweeping N.C. State on Oct. 29 in three games (30-28, 30-23, 30-24) before dropping three straight to No. 2 UNC (36-38, 21-30, 27-30) on Oct. 30.

The Deacs now stand at 10-13 overall and 2-10 in the ACC with two weeks remaining before the conference tournament.

Wake Forest stole the first game of the match against N.C. State, coming back to win 30-28 after trailing 23-19 at one point. The Deacs held N.C. State to a .057 hitting percentage in the second game of the match, as they knocked off the Wolfpack 30-23. Wake Forest completed the three-game sweep by winning the final game 30-24, out-hitting their opponents .314 to .242.

“(Against N.C. State) I thought our team played very well together,” Head Coach Valorie Baker said. “When they did things well, they celebrated together, and when they did things bad, they picked each other up.”

Senior Kim Stern led the way for the Deacs offensively, leading all players with 14 kills. Freshman Michael Faulkner also picked up double-digit kills with 11, while junior Erin Borhart came away with nine kills and junior Valerie Rydberg added eight kills. Junior Christy Williams finished with seven kills and a .462 hitting percentage while senior Morgan Havig added six kills while posting a .500 hitting percentage.

Rydberg led the team defensively with a match-high 12 digs, while junior Klarysa Henry picked up 10 digs and Borhart finished with seven digs. Stern also added seven digs and led the team with three solo blocks. Havig also added two solo blocks of her own.

Williams led all servers with three aces and Borhart picked up 40 assists. In the end, the Deacs out-hit N.C. State, .242 to .181.

Going into their match with UNC the following day on Oct. 30, the team was looking to come away with two wins in a row for the first time since mid-September. Though they trailed at one point in the first game, 24-28, the Deacs battled back to tie it at 31-31. However, despite having four game points, the Deacs would be unable to come away with a victory in game one, falling 36-38.

The team faltered in the second game, 21-30, after being out-hit by their opponents .271 to .170. Late in the third game of the match, the Tarheels grabbed a 24-18 lead. The Deacs would go on a run to cut Carolina’s lead to two points at 23-25, but the Tarheels eventually prevailed, 27-30.

“(Against UNC) we were a little bit up and down,” Baker said after the match. “We competed at times, but we were not consistent.”

Rydberg picked up 23 digs for the Deacs while also putting down 15 kills. Stern added seven digs of her own while also picking up 13 kills. Borhart came away with 11 kills, seven digs, 40 assists and two block assists for Wake Forest, while Havig, Williams and Faulkner picked up five kills each.

Faulkner also added five digs and two block assists while Havig added a team-high four block assists. Sophomore Natasha Schaefer added to the Wake Forest defense with 13 digs while junior Klarysa Henry contributed five digs.

The Deacs look for their third conference win when they travel to Clemson Nov. 5. Next, they will take on the ACC’s top team, Georgia Tech, Nov. 7.