Clemson Volleyball Begins Homestand Friday with #15 Florida State

Nov. 12, 2009

CLEMSON, S.C. – The Clemson volleyball team will ride a five-match winning streak into Jervey Gymnasium this weekend when they take on #15 Florida State and Miami. The Tigers (20-7, 10-5 ACC) and Seminoles (23-2, 14-1 ACC), ranked 3rd in the RPI, will square off at 7:00 pm on Friday night, while Clemson and Miami (15-10, 8-7 ACC) will play at 6:00 pm on Saturday evening.

The Tigers have been red hot lately, winners of nine of their last 11 matches overall. Freshman of the Year candidate Sandra Adeleye has led Clemson in kills in each of the past five matches, all Tiger victories. The middle blocker was named ACC Co-Player of the Week for her performance at Maryland and Boston College when she racked up 36 kills and only three errors with 11 total blocks for the weekend.

Seniors Lia Proctor, Didem Ege have had All-ACC caliber seasons so far, as Proctor is second in the conference in kills/set, Ege ranks second in digs/set and can become the ACC’s all-time digs leader with 37 this weekend. Murphy is the only player in ACC history to record 4,500 assists, 1,000 digs, and 400 total blocks, and can reach the 5,000 assist plateau this weekend. The Tigers are second in the ACC in hitting percentage as well, a testament to Murphy’s guidance.

Florida State is equally sizzling, as the Seminoles have won 11 consecutive ACC matches and currently sit in first place in the conference. The Tigers and Noles have played once this season on Oct. 4, a 3-2 Florida State win in Tallahassee. Clemson fought back from a 2-0 match deficit to force a fifth set, which FSU won, 15-7. Five Tigers had double-digit kills, led by 20 from Lia Proctor and 14 from Adeleye. Alexa Rand had 10 kills and five blocks as well, but it wasn’t enough to overcome 24 kills from Brianna Barry.

Barry leads the ACC in hitting percentage at .522 on what is a very balanced Florida State team. None of their individual players rank among the ACC’s top ten in kills, digs, or assists, yet their team record of 23-2 is indicative of their team skill.

Miami enters at 8-7 in the ACC and are in sixth place in the ACC, but with an RPI of 50, will be a chance for the Tigers to improve. The first time they met this season, the Tigers overcame a 2-0 deficit and a school-record 36 kills from Lane Carico to win 3-2. Carico’s 36 kills are the high mark in the ACC this season, and Carico leads the conference at 4.42 kills/set. The match was extremely tight with each of the set scores falling within three points.

In the previous matchup, Lia Proctor had 19 kills and 12 digs. Proctor (3.71 kills/set) is second in the conference in kills/set behind Carico. Didem Ege had 24 digs, and is currently second in the ACC in digs/set behind Miami’s Cassie Loessberg. Ege is second in ACC history in career digs and career digs per set.

After their matchups with the Florida schools, Clemson will welcome Virginia Tech and Virginia on Nov. 13 and 14, respectively.