Wofford College Athletics

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The Wofford College volleyball team fell in five sets to Wake Forest University on Friday afternoon in High Point, North Carolina. The Terriers led 2-1 after three sets, but Wake Forest won the final two sets. Wofford falls to 6-5 while Wake Forest improves to 6-5.
 
Leading the way offensively was Bradley Brown with 15 kills on a .306 hitting percentage. Chloe Smith tallied 15 kills along with a career-high 11 kills from Taylor Mendez. Maddy Frazier paced the team with 25 assists while Taylor Pecht finished the match with 21. Frazier, Smith and Ella Coleman had one service ace apiece.
 
Defensively, Laney Klika had a match-high 32 digs – the ninth-most in a five-set match in program history. Maddy Frazier followed behind with 11 for her second double-double of the season. Bradley Brown rejected five Wake Forest attacks, including three solo blocks. Emily Normand and Charlotte Bell had two blocks each.
 
Wofford totaled 57 kills on a .242 hitting percentage compared to 67 kills on a .196 percentage from Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons committed 31 attacking errors while Wofford had 17. Wake Forest recorded five service aces to Wofford's three. The Terriers claimed the edge at the net, totaling seven blocks while Wake Forest had six.
 
It was back-and-forth between the two teams to start set one, with seven ties before either team hit 10 points. With the set tied at 10-all, Wofford scored back-to-back points to take a 12-10 advantage. The Terriers would turn that into a 15-14 lead heading into the media timeout. Wofford finally gained a bit of breathing room after a kill from Charlotte Bell and a Wake Forest attacking error gave the team a 20-17 lead. The Terriers would go on to win set one 25-20.
 
Wofford jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead in set two, but Wake Forest went on an 8-1 run to regain the lead, 9-5. That eventually turned into a 12-3 Wofford skid. The Terriers responded with three-straight points to bring the deficit to three points, 13-10, however, Wake Forest was able to stretch the margin back out to six points. The Terriers eventually fell in set two, 25-17.
 
With set three tied at 6-6, Wofford scored six unanswered points to take a 12-6 lead. Despite leading 14-7 later in the set, Wake Forest cut the deficit to two points, 17-15. Wofford responded, however, going on an 8-3 run to close out set three with a 25-18 victory.
 
It was another quick start in set four for the Terriers as the team got off to a 4-0 advantage. That lead did not last long, with Wake Forest taking a 10-9 lead after a 4-0 run of its own. Despite the one-point deficit, Wofford was able to take a 15-12 lead into the media timeout. The Terriers continued to hold a comfortable 20-16 lead until Wake Forest went on a 9-3 run at the end of the stanza. The Wofford skid led to a 25-22 Wake Forest win in set four to force a fifth set.
 
The Terriers led 4-1 early on in set five, but Wake Forest again responded. It was an 8-1 Demon Deacon run that put Wofford behind 9-5. The Terriers fought back, tying the set at 10-all after a kill from Chloe Smith. With the set tied at 12-12, Wake Forest scored the final three points to take the set 15-12 and the match 3-2.
 
Wofford will close out non-conference action with a short trip to Gardner-Webb on Tuesday, September 22, at 6:00 p.m. The match can be streamed live on ESPN+.