Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Box Score (NC Central)
Box Score (Wake Forest)
 
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wofford volleyball team split its final day of matches at the Deacon Invitational on Saturday, defeating NC Central in three sets and falling to host Wake Forest in the same fashion.
 
The Terriers (2-4) were led by senior Taylor Baird in the win over NC Central (0-8), who posted a season-high 22.5 points and registered a match-high 17 kills. Against the Deacons (6-1), freshman Bella Santoro posted a team-high 11 kills and hit .333.
 
At the conclusion of Saturday's matches, freshman setter Molly Mayo was named to the Deacon Invitational All-Tournament Team. Mayo had 109 assists in 10 sets played, averaging 10.9 assists per set, including a weekend-high 45 assists against Presbyterian.
 
Wofford travels to Clemson for its third preseason tournament next Friday and Saturday. The Terriers will face Tennessee State, William & Mary and host Clemson at the Clemson Classic.
 
Match 1 – Wofford 3 – NC Central 0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-18)
 
Senior Taylor Baird matched a season-high of 22.5 points on 17 kills and five aces, leading the Terriers to their second victory of the season over NC Central.
 
Baird hit .355 on 31 attempts and the Terriers were dominant with a team mark of .372. Freshmen Bella Santoro and Alex Holland had seven and six kills, respectively, and Holland hit .455. Meanwhile, junior Liz Buterbaugh was error free with four kills on six attempts, finishing the match hitting .667.
 
Freshman Molly Mayo set the entire way and assisted 32 of Wofford's 40 kills. Graham went for a match-high 15 digs and Wofford outblocked the Eagles 5-3. Holland and freshman Danni Densford registered three block assists apiece.
 
Kelsey Murphy led the Eagles with six kills, heading an attack that struggled to hit .053.
 
Wofford got it going from the onset, putting down 11 kills in the first and hitting .280, compared to -.020 for the Eagles. Baird and Santoro notched four kills apiece and attacked at a .429 clip. The Terriers were even on point with their serve, earning four aces, including two by Densford.
 
Wofford trailed just once in the first at 2-1, but scored five of the next six points to lead 6-3. The big run came mid set, scoring eight straight to go up 19-7. Densford served during the run, where she found both aces, and redshirt freshman Alyse High capped it with a kill.
 
Wofford turned up its offense in the second, hitting a match-best .500 (13-2-22), led by five kills from Baird and four from Holland. Again, NC Central held a brief lead in the early stages, but Wofford rattled off four straight to go up 9-7. The Eagles hung around and even led for a second time at 12-11, until Wofford went on a 10-0 run – its largest of the match. Baird had three kills on the run and Holland put down a pair, pushing the Terriers ahead 21-12.
 
Baird capped Wofford's victory with eight kills in the third. The reigning Southern Conference Player of the Week was set 16 times and had three aces in the set. Trailing 4-2, Wofford scored seven of the next eight points for an 11-5 lead. The six-point margin remained intact at 18-12, and Baird served four straight points with two aces. Freshman Tierney Flaherty made her collegiate debut and earned her first kill to make it 22-12, and Buterbaugh put the match away.

Match 2 – Wake Forest 3 – Wofford 0 (22-25, 14-25, 18-25)
 
The Demon Deacons won a hard-fought first set and the Terriers could not catch up. The host team hit an impressive .463, outpacing Wofford's mark of .216 and blocking eight Terrier attacks.
 
Santoro led Wofford with 11 kills and hit .333. Densford continued her impressive start to her collegiate career with seven kills and a .357 attack percentage. Buterbaugh had her best attacking match of the season with eight kills at a .385 clip, and also earned three blocks.
 
Mayo completed the match with 32 assists, five digs and two aces.
 
Santoro led Wofford with five kills and no errors in the first set. Densford also attacked without any errors, notching four kills on seven attempts. As a team, the Terriers hit an impressive .308, but Wake Forest countered by hitting .375. Matalee Reed and Ashlee Rusk were perfect on their attack attempts, with Reed earning five kills and Rusk tallying three.
 
Wofford kept it close the whole way. The Terriers tied the set for the first time 6-6 and weathered a 4-0 Wake run to tie it up again at 12. After the Deacons pushed their lead back to a pair, Santoro slammed a kill and Baird found the baseline with an ace to level the score once more at 15. Santoro came back with another kill and the Terriers took their first lead at 17-16 off a thunderous block from Densford and Mayo. Wofford held the lead for the final time at 19-18, before Wake used a 5-1 run to grab ahold of the set.
 
The Terriers trailed the whole way in the second as Wake opened on a 6-0 run. Holland put down her first of two kills to put Wofford on the board, and the set got as close as three when Graham connected on an ace to make it 8-5. Wake responded with a 3-0 spurt and Coach Sweet called time with his team trailing by seven at 15-8. Holland, Santoro, Baird and Densford all added kills the rest of the way, but Wake proved too much and took the second by 11.
 
Wofford got a 10-minute break to talk things over and seemed to benefit from it. Densford gave the Terriers the lead with the set's opening point and Wofford was tied 8-8 when Santoro served and earned a kill. A 5-0 Wake run ensued, but the young Terriers held tough and used a 7-1 run to take a 15-14 lead. Buterbaugh went for three of her six kills in the set during the run – she hit .714 (6-1-7) in third – and Wofford was digging up every attack Wake Forest could muster. Another Buterbaugh kill made 16-15 Terriers.
 
Wake called time and regrouped, stopping the Wofford run by scoring four straight to go up 19-16. Another 5-0 Deacon run followed, ending the match in three.