WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Four Tigers finished with double-digit kills, but it wasn’t enough as the Clemson volleyball team (13-17, 4-14 ACC) fell at Wake Forest (16-13, 8-10 ACC) in four sets (25-22, 14-25, 21-25, 26-28) to conclude the 2022 regular season.
Juniors Cate Long and Camryn Hannah led the Tigers offensively with 19 and 15 kills, respectively. Senior Mckenna Slavick finished with her 11th double-double of the season tallying 46 assists and 16 digs, both of which led the team. Freshman Mia McGrath tallied her fifth double-double with 12 kills and 12 digs. Other highlights include Colleen Finney finishing with 10 kills, and Devan Taylor having 11 digs.
The Tigers dominated the net in the opening set tallying 17 kills in comparison to Wake Forest’s nine. Long led the charge with five kills, while Hannah contributed four. Defensively, Clemson had three blocks, all assisted, which helped propel the Tigers to a 25-22 set win.
The Demon Deacons leveled the match in the second set after tallying a .615 hitting percentage to take the set, 25-14. Clemson responded to open the third set behind kills from Long, McGrath and Brooklyn Conner. Finney picked up three quick kills for the Tigers which forced Wake Forest to call timeout as Clemson led, 9-3. The Demon Deacons came back to tie things at 13-all and continued to build momentum to end the set with a 25-21 advantage.
It was a back-and-forth battle in the fourth set as the Tigers and Demon Deacons traded leads 10 times and tied things 23 times before a winner was decided. Hannah started things for the Tigers with four early kills, but neither side was able to gain much momentum, continually swapping points with one another. Long and Finney went the distance for the Tigers in the fourth to push it past a traditional 25-point set, but three-straight points for Wake Forest ultimately gave them the set, 28-26.
