Volleyball ACCtion: Friday, November 6
Seminoles win five-set thriller with Duke.
Fifteen kills from Fatma Yildirim helped Florida State defeate Duke, 3-2.

Fifteen kills from Fatma Yildirim helped Florida State defeate Duke, 3-2.

Nov. 6, 2009

No. 16 FSU Defeats Duke, 3-2
The showdown between the Atlantic Coast Conference's two best volleyball teams certainly lived up its billing Friday night inside Tully Gymnasium.

And when the epic five-set match reached its end, Florida State and its capacity crowd had reason to celebrate as the first-place Seminoles earned a 3-2 win (22-25, 25-19, 25-13, 25-21, 15-11) over the second-place Blue Devils.

The win pushes the 'Noles (22-2, 13-1 ACC) further ahead in the race for the conference crown. Duke (21-5, 11-3), which hadn't lost in Tallahassee since way back in 2002, is now two games behind FSU in the conference standings.

Heels Crush Cavaliers
There was nothing cavalier about North Carolina's play Friday night at the Dean E. Smith Center in front of 7150 fans. The Tar Heels defeated Virginia 3-1 with set scores 25-17, 25-14, 19-25 and 25-16. Carolina improves to 13-12 overall and 9-5 in league play, while Virginia falls to 10-15 overall and 5-9 in conference play. The Tar Heels, which lead the ACC in digs per set, posted a season-high 101 digs in the match.

The Tar Heels attack featured three players with double-digit kills - Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland (17), Branagan Fuller (12) and Courtney Johnston (11). Hanson-Tuntland's 17 kills tie a career-high, the senior has registered 17 kills six different times in 2009. Cora Harms registered 49 assists and 22 digs to service the Tar Heel attack. Libero Kaylie Gibson posted a match-high 30 digs, freshman Emily McGee chipped in nine kills and 18 digs. Heather Brooks added five blocks to pace the Carolina defense.

Carolina got off to a fast start in set one uncorking a .316 hitting percentage to win the set 25-17. Brooks posted all of her five kills in the first set, while McGee added five to led the Tar Heel attack. Carolina finished the first frame on a 7-2 run behind a slew of Gibson serves, holding the Cavaliers to only a .182 clip.

Tech dominates in sweep of Wolfpack
The Virginia Tech volleyball squad snapped a three-match losing streak with an impressive 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-16) sweep of NC State at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C., on Friday night.

Tech (17-8, 7-7 ACC) captured its third win on the road in ACC play and its 12th-consecutive victory over the Wolfpack (7-22, 0-14 ACC). The Hokies completed their sixth season sweep of NC State in a row with Saturday's win. In the match, Tech hit .289 and held NC State to a .120 clip. Tech also blocked nine attacks, while the Wolfpack could only muster five stuffs.

The Hokies got off to a good start with a 25-18 win in set one. Tech had previously lost the first set in four of their last five matches, a stretch in which the Hokies went 2-3. Tech dominated the entire period from the start, jumping out to a 7-2 lead. Holding a 13-10 advantage, the Hokies embarked on a 6-1 run, and NC State could never respond. A kill by freshman Jennifer Wiker sealed the frame for the Hokies.

Clemson Volleyball Downs Maryland in Three Sets
Clemson volleyball won its fourth consecutive match on Friday night, taking out Maryland, 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-15). Sandra Adeleye led the Tigers (19-7, 9-5 ACC)in kills with 13, while senior Lia Proctor had 12. The Tigers hit .326 in the match, using 11.0 blocks to hold the Terrapins (11-16, 3-11 ACC) to a .083 mark.

Kelsey Murphy led the way for the Tigers offensively, recording 30 assists and six kills, her second-best output of the season. Adeleye hit .524 (13-2-21) for the match in leading Clemosnin kills for the fourth consecutive match, all Tiger victories. Didem Ege had 17 digs, bringing her career digs mark to 2,183, only 18 shy of second place in ACC history.

Adeleye and Rand were big for the Tigers up front, with Adeleye registering six blocks and Rand five. The Tigers recorded six service aces on the evening, led by two from freshman Serenat Yaz, who is tied for the team lead with 23 on the season.

Miami Takes Down Wake Forest, 3-1
Four Hurricanes players touched double-digit kills and Genny Mayhew collected her 1,000th career kill in helping lead the University of Miami volleyball team past Wake Forest, 3-1 (15-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-17), Friday evening in an ACC matchup at the James L. Knight Sports Complex in Coral Gables, Fla.

Genny Mayhew, a senior outside hitter from Clovis, Calif., battling injury the last few weeks, stepped up big in the form of passing for Miami (15-9, 8-6 ACC) on Friday, but she needed just one kill to become the fifth player in UM history to collect 1,000 kills for a career.

With Miami trailing 16-9 in the second set, Mayhew took an Nrithya Sundararaman pass to the right side and placed her attack down the sideline to grab her plateau-achieving kill.

Georgia Tech Sweeps Boston College, 3-0 On The Road
Sophomore Bailey Hunter had 13 kills to lead the Georgia Tech Volleyball team (17-7, 11-3 ACC) to a 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-19) win over Boston College (11-14, 1-13) Friday night. The Yellow Jackets hit .366 for the match and held BC to a .180 clip.

Hunter hit .440 en route to her team-high 13 kills and also had four total blocks, including two solo. Freshman Monique Mead had 12 kills on .364 hitting and senior Chrissy DeMichelis rounded out the double-figure scoring with 10 kills on .389 hitting. Sophomore Alison Campbell had a career-high 12 digs for the Yellow Jackets, while junior Mary Ashley Tippins dished out 40 assists.

The first set was close for most of the way as each team traded the lead. Boston College held a 16-15 advantage when the Yellow Jackets went on a quick 4-0 run to take their largest lead of the set at 19-16. Tech continued the run and soon led by five points at 22-17 forcing a BC timeout. The Eagles got within three points, but that would be it as the Jackets won 25-20 and took a 1-0 lead in the match.