Volleyball ACCtion: Friday, October 9
Atlantic Coast Conference volleyball begins to heat up with five games on the schedule.
ACC Volleyball

ACC Volleyball

Oct. 9, 2009

Virginia Tech Drops Carolina 3-2

BLACKSBURG, VA. - The University of North Carolina volleyball team fell to Virginia Tech Friday, with set scores 29-27, 16-25, 15-25, 25-16 and 10-15. Carolina falls to 7-9 on the year and 3-2 in the league, while Virginia Tech improves to 13-5 overall and 3-4 in the league. The Tar Heels were paced by Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland's career-tying 17 kills and 13 kills apiece from Courtney Johnston and Heather Brooks. The Heels only got eight kills from their outside hitters en route to posting a .104 hitting percentage in the match. Setter Cora Harms posted 49 assists and 14 digs, and libero Kaylie Gibson posted 25 digs. Brooks also posted four blocks in the match.

In the opening set Virginia Tech jumped out to a quick 6-3 lead. Four Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland kills later sliced the Hokie lead to 8-7. The Hokies continued to stretch their lead to 11-7, before a 4-0 Carolina run pushed the Tar Heels in front 12-11 forcing a Hokie timeout. The 4-0 run then erupted to an 10-1 Carolina run to open a 17-12 lead forcing yet another Virginia Tech timeout. Virginia Tech regrouped after the break opening a 9-2 run to push in front of Carolina 21-20. The Heels and Hokies continued to battle before Carolina was able to claim the set 29-27. Heather Brooks notched eight kills, Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland five and Courtney Johnston four to lead the Heels, who hit .148 in the first frame. The first set featured 10 tie scores and eight lead changes as Carolina's sideout percentage was 53% compared to the Hokies 50%.

The second set began in the Hokies favor opening an 8-5 lead early. Carolina continued to hang around before knotting the score at 14 and forcing a Virginia Tech timeout. The Hokies came out of the timeout strong claiming an 18-15 lead forcing a timely Joe Sagula timeout. Virgina Tech continued to build their momentum winning the set 25-16. The Hokies hit at a .286 clip in the second frame, after hitting only .091 in the first set. Carolina never claimed a lead in the second set as the Hokies notched a 76% sideout percentage in the second frame.

Miami Volleyball Falls at Duke, 3-0

Durham, N.C. - Duke's Rachael Moss stamped 19 kills and Becci Burling supplied another 14 to lead homestanding Duke University past the University of Miami, 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-23) in an ACC volleyball matchup Friday evening at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C.

Miami (10-7, 3-4 ACC) kept the first set close in a frame that saw six ties and three lead changes in its attempt to unseat Duke (16-2, 6-0 ACC) of the final remaining title of ACC-unbeaten. With the Hurricanes trailing, 11-10, following a kill from sophomore Ali Becker, the Blue Devils used a 7-2 momentum swing with kills from Moss and Burling to leap out to a sizeable 18-12 advantage.

UM tied the set late, 21-21, on the strength of blocks by Lane Carico, Lici McGee and Nrithya Sundararaman, as well as a kill from Christine Williamson. Three Duke attack errors were also big for the `Canes in the comeback attempt. But Duke's Kellie Catanach connected for a kill on an over attempt by Miami to give the Blue Devils the opening set, 25-22.

Georgia Tech Volleyball Improves To 9-0 At Home With Sweep Of Maryland Friday Night

ATLANTA - The Georgia Tech Volleyball team (11-5, 5-1 ACC) hit .398 as it cruised to a 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-22) win over Maryland (10-9, 2-4) Friday on Parent's Night at O'Keefe Gym. Sophomore Bailey Hunter led the Yellow Jackets with 15 kills as they improved to 9-0 at home this season.

The Yellow Jackets hit .398 for the match, while holding Maryland to .204. Hunter had her 15 kills on a .387 hitting percentage as she has now recorded double-figure kills in 14 straight matches. Sophomore Asia Stawicka, who began the night hitting a perfect 6-for-6 in the first set, had 11 kills, three digs and three total blocks for Tech. She hit .625 on the night. Senior Chrissy DeMichelis rounded out Tech's double-figure scorers with 10 kills on .368 hitting to go along with five digs. Junior Mary Ashley Tippins handed out 45 assists, while junior Jordan McCullers recorded a game-high 17 digs. Freshman Monique Mead also turned in a solid performance with eight kills, four digs and four total blocks.

In the first set, the Yellow Jackets opened up a 14-8 lead and never looked back en route to a 25-15 win. Tech hit .615 for the set led by six kills on a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage by Stawicka. DeMichelis alsohad four kills for the Jackets.

Virginia Defeats NC State, 3-0

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - NC State volleyball dropped a 3-0 ACC decision to Virginia on Friday, Oct. 9, at Memorial Gymnasium. The loss moves the Wolfpack to 7-14 (0-6 ACC), while the Cavaliers improve to 7-10 (2-4 ACC). Margaret Salata's 12 kills was tops on the Pack offense, while Kelly Wood added five. Alex Smith put up 25 set assists, and Keri DeMar (11) and Lindsay Benac (10) combined for 21 of the team's 44 defensive digs.

Salata also led the team in blocks with four total, while Taylor Pritchard boasted a team-high two service aces. The opening set proved to be a seesaw battle early on, evidenced by seven tied scores and two lead changes. A Kendahl Voelker kill gave UVa the lead at 7-6, and later runs of four and two points from the Cavaliers put the game out of reach before the Pack fell 25-16. More from Maryland
More from Maryland

No. 19 Florida State Downs Wake Forest 3-0 WINSTON-SALEM, NC - No. 19 Florida State used a strong offensive attack to post a 3-0 victory over the Wake Forest volleyball team Friday night in Reynolds Gym. The Seminoles improve to 14-2 on the year and 5-1 in the conference while the Deacons fall to 6-12 overall and 4-3 in the ACC. FSU posted set victories of 25-20, 25-14, 25-22. Four different Seminoles hit over .471 in the match and as a team, the 19th-ranked team in the country, hit a solid .473 and posted 55 kills. Mira Djuric, Jordana Price and Brianna Barry each finished with 11 kills as Barry improved upon her third-best hitting percentage in the country by hitting .571 on the night. \

Rand Powers Clemson Past Boston College, 3-0, in Friday

Volleyball Action CLEMSON, SC - The Clemson Volleyball teamed moved back to .500 in league play with an important, 3-0 victory (25-21,25-21,25-19) against Boston College (11-6, 1-5 ACC) on Friday night in Jervey Gym. The Tigers (12-5, 3-3 ACC) were led offensively by Alexa Rand, who had 16 kills and no errors on the day, along with five blocks.

Didem Ege had an astonishing 28 digs in three sets to move past the 2,000 dig mark for her career. Setter Kelsey Murphy spread the ball out for most of the match, recording 37 assists and setting three players more than 23 times.

Lia Proctor upped her season average in kills/set by notching 12 this evening to go with seven digs. Rand's .696 hitting mark is tied for fifth-best ever by a freshman, and is hitting .541 in ACC matches so far this season (62K-9E-98A). She also had two solo blocks and three block assists to move her to 95 on the season, fifth-most ever by a Clemson freshman.

No. 19 FSU Drops Demon Deacons

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The No. 19 Florida State volleyball team needed just three sets to defeat Wake Forest (25-20, 25-14, 25-22) Friday night in Winston-Salem, N.C.

With the straight-sets triumph, the Seminoles (14-2, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) have now achieved nine sweeps in the 2009 season.

Against the Demon Deacons (6-12, 4-3), the Florida State offensive attack was paced by the senior trio of outside hitter Mira Djuric and middle blockers Jordana Price and Brianna Barry. All three of the Seminoles' veteran leaders finished the match with 11 kills apiece.