Nov. 7, 2002

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The Wake Forest volleyball team (12-14, 5-7 ACC) returns home this week for a pair of ACC matches against NC State (3-26, 0-11) at 7:00 p.m. on Friday and No. 12 North Carolina (23-2, 10-1) at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday in Reynolds Gym. The Demon Deacons are looking to even their record with a pair of wins in their final conference home games of the year. Wake fell 3-0 to the Tar Heels on Oct. 11 in Chapel Hill and then beat the Wolfpack 3-1 the next night in Raleigh.

The Demon Deacons split a pair of matches last week, suffering a 3-0 setback at Maryland last Tuesday and then sweeping Virginia 3-0 on Saturday in Charlottesville. The 3-0 sweep over the Cavaliers was the seventh time this season that Wake has swept its opponent. The 3-0 loss at to the Terrapins was only the second time the Deacs have been shutout this season - the other being at 11th-ranked North Carolina on Oct. 11.

Saturday's match against North Carolina will be senior night for Wake Forest as senior setter Ashlee Phillips and senior outside hitter Amanda Tiller will be honored before the game.

Middle blockers Christy Williams and Jessica Hauff led the way for Wake Forest last week. Williams hit .500 against Virginia with nine kills in addition to four blocks. Hauff tallied 11 kills and five blocks at Virginia. She is second on the team with 66 blocks on the year.

Redshirt freshman outside hitter Valerie Rydberg put away 11 kills to go with 10 digs at Virginia on Saturday. Leading the team with 268 kills this year, Rydberg also leads the team and ranks 10th in the ACC with 2.88 digs per game.

Phillips totaled 69 assists over six games last week. The all-time leader in assists at Wake Forest, Phillips leads the team and is ranked sixth in the ACC with 11.67 assists per game. She also leads the team and ranks third in the league with a .344 attack percentage. Phillips accompanied 42 assists at Virginia on Saturday with seven kills, two blocks and a team-best 12 digs.

Sara Beth DeLisle turned in a solid pair of performances last week. The junior outside hitter had six kills and a team-leading 10 digs at Maryland, followed by seven kills and seven digs at Virginia. She is third on the club with 204 kills this season and is averaging 2.15 kills per game.

NC State leads the series with Wake Forest 19-12 and the Demon Deacons are 10-28 against North Carolina. The Tar Heels play Duke on Friday, before making their way over to Winston-Salem on Saturday.