Sports > March 29, 2007

By Ryan Durham

Sports editor

The Wake Forest women’s volleyball team started off the spring season March 24 when they traveled to Durham, N.C., to participate in a round-robin tournament hosted by the Duke Blue Devils.

The Demon Deacons showed improvement from last season as they won five of the eight games they played in four different matches.

Wake Forest started the day off right with two wins over Appalachian State.

The Deacs took the first game from the Mountaineers 30-22 and then easily won the second game 30-18.

Wake Forest carried the momentum from their first two wins into their second match against ACC rival N.C. State.

The Deacs once again swept both games and kept their undefeated record against the Wolfpack that they started in the fall season.

Wake Forest had a convincing 30-20 win in the first game, but had a difficult time in the second game, only pulling out the win by two points.

This positive momentum looked like it might hold as the Deacs came up against defending ACC Champion Duke.

The Blue Devils won both matchups between the two teams during the fall season and showed that they were ready to continue that streak.

Wake Forest was not able to find the momentum that had carried them throught the first four games and lost the first game to the Blue Devils 30-14.

The Deacs showed a little more life in game two, but redshirt sophomore outside hitter Jessica Furlong suffered a concussion that in part hampered the Deacon attack, with Wake Forest losing 30-23.

The Demon Deacons last matchup of the day came against another ACC opponent, UNC.

The Tar Heels and Deacs met twice in the regular season with Wake Forest escaping both matches with a win.

Still reeling from the two losses to the Blue Devils, Wake Forest could not hold off the UNC attack and barely lost the game 30-27.

This was not the case in the second game as the Deacs found their spark and easily topped the Tar Heels, 30-23.

“I was very pleased with our team’s overall performance,” Head Coach Heather Kahl Holmes said. “There was a great sense of team unity and commitment.”

Freshman defensive specialist Sara Uniacke led the Deacs with 5.5 digs per game.

Also coming up big for the Deacs was junior outside hitter Michael Faulkner with 3.4 digs per game.

“I think the team looks really good,” Holmes said. “ Spring play is all about the experience.”

This tournament was just a warm-up for the Deacs who will host their own tournament March 31 with 10 teams in attendance, including ACC rivals N.C. State, Virginia Tech and North Carolina.