Miami Takes Down Wake Forest, 3-1

Nov. 6, 2009

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Coral Gables, Fla. – Four Hurricanes players touched double-digit kills and Genny Mayhew collected her 1,000th career kill in helping lead the University of Miami volleyball team past Wake Forest, 3-1 (15-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-17), Friday evening in an ACC matchup at the James L. Knight Sports Complex in Coral Gables, Fla.

Genny Mayhew, a senior outside hitter from Clovis, Calif., battling injury the last few weeks, stepped up big in the form of passing for Miami (15-9, 8-6 ACC) on Friday, but she needed just one kill to become the fifth player in UM history to collect 1,000 kills for a career.

With Miami trailing 16-9 in the second set, Mayhew took an Nrithya Sundararaman pass to the right side and placed her attack down the sideline to grab her plateau-achieving kill.

The night did not start out as planned for the Hurricanes, however, as Wake Forest (9-16, 7-7 ACC) looked impressive to open the match. The Demon Deacons used eight kills from outside hitter Kadija Fornah as they hit a whopping .517 clip (16-1-29) in the opening frame, surging to the 25-15 win. Lauren McIntyre came off the bench for the Deacs, adding four kills in the set victory.

Trailing 16-7 in the second set, Miami faced one of its biggest home challenges of the season in the deficit–both in the set and the match.

The `Canes used a 3-0 run started by a kill from junior Lici McGee, and later a 4-1 run with the help of McGee and Ali Becker, cutting the Hurricanes deficit at 19-16. WFU answered back with consecutive kills by Fornah to stretch the lead back at 21-16.

With Miami down 24-20 and Wake Forest serving for set-point, a Mayhew kill began a 6-0 set-ending run for the 26-24 win in favor of UM. Blocks from Sundararaman and McGee capped off the run, tying the match at 1-1.

Carico, McGee and sophomore Christine Williamson all supplied UM with four kills in the second frame.

Miami kept that momentum going in the third set, but not before the two teams traded leads five times and matched each other for 11 ties.

WFU jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the set before UM’s Williamson collected three of her five kills for the set to help UM snatch a 5-3 lead. The late stages of the set would be a head-to-head battle between the Deacs’ Fornah and Hurricanes’ Carico as each refused to allow her team to fall, with the two combining for 11 kills.

Neither team could grab more than a one-point edge past a one-time 17-15 Wake Forest advantage, until a bad set by the Deacons and a kill from senior Maria Andersson allowed UM the 24-22 lead. A kill from McGee sealed the win, 25-23, giving UM the 2-1 edge in the match.

Carico had six kills for UM in the set, and Wake’s Fornah countered with five of her own.

The fourth set was all `Canes as Carico tallied five kills and sophomore middle blocker Ali Becker provided four kills to help UM to the 25-17 win, clinching the season series sweep over the Demon Deacons.

Wake Forest was led on the night by Fornah with a match-high 22 kills and three blocks (two solo), while teammate Andrea Beck added 10 kills to reach double-figures, also claiming four blocks (three assists).

Setter Kelsey Jones had 50 assists, and libero Megan Thornberry picked up a match-high 32 digs.

Miami was led by the 18-kill, 21-dig performance of Lane Carico. Carico collected her 14th double-double of the season in the win. Christine Williamson set a new career-high on the night with 15 kills, four digs and two blocks. Not to be outdone was fellow sophomore Becker with a career-high 15 kills and four digs.

McGee rounded out the double-figure kills production for UM with 10, adding three blocks (two assists).

Setter Sundararaman claimed 57 assists, and senior libero Cassie Loessberg picked up 21 digs on defense. For Loessberg, her digs total allowed her the 11th match of the season with at least 20 digs, tying her own previous two school-record holding marks from 2007 and 2008, respectively. Loessberg now has 35 matches with at least 20 digs in her career.

UM returns to the hardwood Sunday, playing host to ACC foe Duke at 1 p.m., back inside the James L. Knight Sports Complex.

For more information on the University of Miami Volleyball team, please log on to www.hurricanesports.com. Once there, you will find up-to-date news, stats and information regarding the Hurricanes Volleyball program.