Clemson Tops Wake Forest for Weekend Sweep

Oct. 29, 2011

CLEMSON, SC – Needing some conference wins to boost an NCAA Tournament resume, the Clemson Volleyball team picked up a pair this weekend, holding on for a 3-1 (25-14, 18-25, 25-16, 25-22) win over Wake Forest (5-17, 2-11 ACC) on Saturday night in Jervey Gym. The Tigers (16-8, 8-5 ACC) had swept Duke Friday evening, and now get set to head on the road for four in a row and five of the final seven matches down the stretch.

Sandra Adeleye, who entered the night with 990 career kills after a big 19-kill effort on Friday, continued her hot hitting, nailing 16 kills to push her over the career milestone. For the weekend, she had 35 kills and hit nearly .500.

Hannah Brenner guided Clemson to .333 hitting on Saturday, with 57 kills to just 12 errors, the second straight match Clemson eclipsed the .300 mark. The sophomore had 50 assists in the four-set match, and found four different players for nine or more kills. Junior Serenat Yaz each had 16 kills to lead the Tigers, and also added 12 digs for her eighth double-double of the season.

Alexa Rand provided a good two-way spark, registering 10 kills on .333 hitting and eight blocks, giving her 19 rejections on the weekend.

Libero Cansu Ozdemir also had a strong evening both ways, garnering five kills in 12 swings, and going a perfect 34-for-34 in serve receive opportunities, and also collecting 11 digs.

The Wake Forest offense was solid most of the night, hitting .250, with Andrea Beck (19 kills, .457 hitting), Kadijah Fornah (16 kills), and Carlin Salmon (12 kills) leading the way for the Deacs.

Clemson stormed out of the gates with a 25-14 win in the first set behind .343 hitting, while holding the Demon Deacons to a .156 mark. Clemson was able to side out on 12 of 15 opportunities. Clemson led the entire set, and used an early 9-1 run to take a 13-4 lead, and held on for the win.

The Demon Deacons struck back in the second set, using a 4-0 run to blow open a tight set, 21-16, and they went on to win, 25-18. The Deacs hit a blistering .478 with 20 kills in the set, while Clemson hit .367, with 13 kills and two errors, but Wake Forest’s pace was too much up the middle, as Andrea Beck had eight kills in the set.

Clemson had a key 5-0 run in the second set to take a 16-11 lead behind three straight blocks, and stretched the lead to seven at 22-15 on a kill from Adeleye. Clemson hit jus t.219 in the set, but held Wake Forest to just a .045 mark, with 12 attack errors. The difference in the set was Clemson’s six blocks, including five from Rand and two from Simmons. Clemson got three kills and a block from Yaz in the last four points to claim the set, 25-16.

The Tigers carried some momentum on in the fourth set, taking the lead early and holding on. With the score knotted at 11-11, Clemson went on a 4-1 mini-run to give them some breathing room, which they’d hold on to for the set, winning 25-22 after Wake got to within one on three occasions. Clemson had 19 kills in the set, including six from Yaz and four from Rand, while Brenner dished out 17 assists. Clemson was able to side out on 18-22 (81%) of their opportunities to clinch the match.

Clemson heads on the road the next two weekends, playing next on Nov. 4th and 6th at Maryland and Boston College.