Volleyball Falls 3-2 At Wake Forest

Tuesday, September 30

Winston-Salem, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Duke University

Wake Forest

Volleyball Falls 3-2 At Wake Forest

9/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

By: Duke Sports Information

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. ? Kristen White turned in 16 kills, 17 digs and three blocks while teammate Natalie Mullikin also contributed 17 kills and three blocks to lead Wake Forest to a 3-2 (21-25, 25-21, 25-22, 18-25, 17-15) win over Duke Tuesday evening in Reynolds Gymnasium.

The duo combined for 36.5 total points in Wake Forest's (11-4, 2-1 ACC) narrow victory, while White and Mullikin teamed up for seven points in the Demon Deacons' fifth-set victory. Wake Forest totaled 14 blocks in the five-set affair and had five players with 15 or more digs, including libero Megan Thornberry who picked up 26 of Duke's 212 attacks. The effort held Duke (10-5, 1-2 ACC) to a season-low .108 hitting percentage, despite a pair of 16-kill efforts from Blue Devil senior Jourdan Norman and junior Rachael Moss.

Lauren McIntyre found her way in on eight of Wake Forest's 14 blocks, including two solo stops and the final block that ended the match in the 17-15 fifth-set victory. Mullikin, White, Kelsey Jones and Ashley Homitz also had three blocks, while Kadija Fornah had two.

Duke also turned in another impressive defensive performance and held Wake Forest to a .089 hitting percentage, thanks to 100 digs and 11 blocks. Norman had eight of those stops , while sophomore libero Claire Smalzer topped 20 digs for the second straight match with 27 on the night. Moss also reached the plateau with an even 20 for her eighth double-double of the year. Freshman Amanda Robertson turned in a career-high 18 digs, blowing away her previous best of six. Classmate Kellie Catanach also racked up 17 digs to compliment 46 assists.

Duke and Wake Forest each put up a strong defensive effort in the first set and held each other to a sub-.200 hitting percentage for the opener. Norman was the difference, however, as Duke's senior connected on three of her four attacks with two blocks and a pair of assists to lead Duke to the opening 25-21 win. Dunworth and Carls matched Norman with three kills apiece while Smalzer contributed on the defensive end with six digs. The teams exchanged the lead three times and locked in with 11 ties before Duke finally broke the match open with a quick 5-1 run that ran the score to 22-18. Wake Forest would battle back, however, and received consecutive kills from Mulliken and Fornah to trim the Blue Devil lead to two points. Carls and Moss responded with kills to put Duke within one point of clinching the set, which ended shortly after on a Wake Forest attack error.

The Deacs responded by taking a four-point lead in the second set and this time were able to maintain the lead on the way to a 25-21 win. Attack and serving errors were Duke's undoing in the set, as the Blue Devils gave away 13 points on faults. Five blocks from Wake Forest helped matters, with Mullikin, Lauren McIntyre and Kelsey Jones each contributing two and Kristen White and Ashley Homitz helping out on the others. White also put down a team-high four kills along with five digs, while Jones added nine assists and a kill. Wake Forest held a 13-9 lead early in the match and fought off a late surge by the Blue Devils that included a 4-2 run that ran the score to 24-21. White broke Duke's momentum with a kill sandwiched between kills from Carls and Norman before the Deacs took a Blue Devil service error to end the frame.

The third set was another tight battle with neither team managing more than a three-point lead for the entire frame. Wake Forest came out with the win again, however, after breaking a 19-19 tie and holding Duke off en route to the 25-22 victory. Mullikin came up big for her Deacs with two of her six kills in the frame coming on consecutive attacks to break the 19-19 deadlock. Her effort was enough to outpace a pair of four-kill performances from Moss and Norman and a three-kill outing from freshman Kayla Kirk.

Trailing two sets to one and facing defeat, the Blue Devils bounced back with a commanding 25-18 fourth set win to even the score and force a tie-breaking fifth frame. Five blocks from the Blue Devils helped limit Wake Forest to a -.136 clip in the match and force the Deacs to make 12 attack errors compared to just six kills. Norman was in on three of the blocks while Robertson worked her way in on two, and Smalzer and Moss combined for 13 digs. Working with a slim two-point lead at 14-12, Robertson and Norman took turns stuffing the Deacs and came through with back-to-back solo blocks as part of a 5-0 run by Duke that forced a Wake Forest timeout. The timeout was just what the Deacs needed to stop Duke's momentum, as they came out with three straight points to close the gap at 18-15. Duke would not be kept down for long, however, as Moss responded with three straight kills, all of which were on assists from Catanach. After another Wake Forest run trimmed the deficit to 21-18, Duke called a timeout and came back out with back-to-back kills from Norman and Moss before Burling and Catanach teamed up on a block to run the score to 24-18. The Demon Deacons ended the match with an attack error, which was their 12th of the match.

In line with the rest of the match, the fifth set was another narrow affair that saw Duke fight off elimination at 14-12 and again at 15-14 before finally giving way to Wake Forest's 17-15 match-clinching victory. Wake Forest was the first to reach eight points to flip the court and went ahead by three points at 9-6 on an ensuing kill from White. Duke kept its composure, however, and got a kill from Burling and a joint block from Robertson and Norman to trim the Demon Deacon lead to 9-8. A ball-handling error from Duke would put Wake Forest into double figures, however, and the following kills from Homitz and Mullikin gave the Deacs a 12-8 lead. Duke did anything but lay down, however, and rallied with a 3-1 run to run the score to 13-12. The Blue Devils would slip up with an attack error, however, putting Wake Forest at match point with a 14-12 lead. Moss came through when her team needed her, however, and hammered her third kill of the set before Fornah repaid the favor with an attack error of her own that knotted the score at 14-14. Burling and Fornah then traded kills to run the score to 15-15 before Homitz came through with another kill for the Deacs to put them at match point once again at 16-15. Needing just one more point to pull off the upset, the Deacon duo of McIntyre and White connected for Wake's 14th block of the night to close out the win.

Duke will return to Cameron Indoor Stadium this Friday and Saturday, Oct. 3-4, for a pair of rivalry matches against in-state foes North Carolina and NC State. Duke will welcome the Tar Heels on Friday at 7 p.m. with a chance to even up the Carlyle Cup standings at 1-1 before hosting NC State on Saturday at 7 p.m.

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