Tigers Sweep Demon Deacons in Dig Pink Match

Oct. 24, 2009

CLEMSON, S.C. – Clemson Volleyball recorded its fifth sweep in the last six home matches, defeating the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 25-10, 25-22, 25-23 on Saturday night. Clemson (16-7, 6-5 ACC) welcomed 817 fans, including many breast cancer survivors for their annual Dig Pink Event, announcing a donation total of more than $3,000 for the 2009 effort.

Clemson played well offensively, recording a .317 hitting pct. on the night, led by Sandra Adeleye’s 16 kills. Kelsey Murphy spread the ball around, recording 37 assists in the three-set match. Defensively, Clemson had nine blocks, all of which came in the final two sets. Alexa Rand had five to pace the Tigers.

Clemson was able to hold the Demon Deacons (7-15, 5-6 ACC) to a .143 mark, recording 47 digs to Wake’s 31. Didem Ege, the ACC’s fourth-leading dig leader, paced Clemson with 14, while Natalie Patzin had eight, and thee other Tigers recorded seven. Although the Tigers won in three sets, there were 26 ties and 14 lead changes in the final two sets for the two teams that entered tied at 5-5 in the ACC standings.

A night after recording a career-high 24 kills, Lia Proctor had nine, for the second-most on the team. Cansu Ozdemir played a second consecutive solid match, with seven kills against only one error and seven digs. Patzin had eight kills as well.

Clemson controlled the first set from the start. Holding a 9-6 lead, the Tigers went on a 16-4 run to close the set 25-10. The Tigers held Ege’s serve on seven straight tries to end the set. Rand had two kills during the run and Proctor closed the set on a kill of her own. Clem son held Wake to a .031 hitting mark, while hitting .371 as a team.

The second set was much closer, featuring 11 ties and seven lead changes. No team led by more than two points at any point in the set until Clemson took a 24-21 lead. The Tigers went ahead for good at 22-21 on an attack error by Kadija Fornah, who led Wake with 11 kills. Sandra Adeleye put down the final point of the set on an assist from Murphy to put clemson up 2-0 heading into intermission.

The third set was much like the second, with 15 ties and seven lead changes. Wake looked like the might pull away, taking a 20-18 lead, by a Jolene Hoover timeout sparked a 7-3 run to end the match. Wake had a 23-22 lead but to Fornah errors and a kill from Murphy put the match away for Clemson, 3-0.

Clemson will now travel to NC State on Oct. 30 and North Carolina on Oct. 31.