Despite coming in with momentum from their drubbing of East Tennessee State last week, the Deacs couldn't transfer that into wins as the Wake Forest volleyball squad dropped two games this past week to ACC foes Duke and Maryland. The two losses puts the Deacons' record at 11-14 (4-7 ACC).

In their game against the Blue Devils, it seemed very conceivable that the Deacs would come out with a sure win, after previously downing Duke in their ACC opener. The game was in Durham and the Deacs won impressively in three games.

Despite the earlier match up between the two teams, Coach Valorie Baker and her squad fell to the team from Durham in four games; 30-20, 30-19, 25-30 and 30-21.

"Duke was a very tough opponent and had been playing very consistent, and that did not change when we played them," Baker said on Duke's performance Oct. 25.

The Blue Devils jumped all over the Deacs in the first two games, as they had an attack percentage of .302 and .389 in the two games and held Wake to a .152 and .200 attack percentage.

But just when fans thought the Deacs were going to be shut out on their own court, the team showed a little bit of that character that they have exposed throughout the season.

In the third game that ended up in a 30-25 Deacon victory, the team reversed its fortune as they corrected what had plagued them in the first two games. The Deacs played solid defense as they forced the Blue Devils into nine attack errors, their highest in any of the four games and they finally out hit them with a .231 attack percentage to Duke's .214. Nevertheless, Wake Forest couldn't sustain their comeback effort, as they were defeated in the fourth game 30-21.

Wake Forest played a strong defensive game, as they tallied a total of 12 team blocks and had multiple players with impressive dig totals.

Sarah Beth DeLisle had a team high with 12 digs, followed up by Ashlee Phillips with nine and Valorie Rydberg had eight. Offensively it was a little bit of a different story as only one Deac hit over .300 and only one Deac reached double-digits in kills, that was Rydberg with 13.

Although suffering a tough defeat in Reynolds Gym on Oct. 25 the Deacs were looking to bounce back against, already once played, Maryland. It was a chance for the Deacs to leapfrog the Terps in the ACC standings because both teams entered the match with a conference record of 4-6.

But the strong and efficient play of Maryland's outside hitters proved too much for the squad as they fell to the Terps by the score of 30-21, 30-20 and 30-25.

"Maryland had strong outside hitters that our blocked struggled with stopping," Baker said.

The Terps had four players tally double-digit kill numbers and hit a whopping .373 for the match.

In the setback, a few Deacs stood out. After only having one player hit over .300 against Duke, Wake Forest had four players achieve the feat. Junior right side hitter Ashely Fisher hit .444 with 7 digs; freshmen middle hitter Christy Williams hit .300 with 8 kills.

Defensively, Sarah Beth DeLisle had a team high in digs with ten and two other Deacs tallied seven.

After a few days off the Deacs hit the road once again. They will travel to Charlottesville, Va., to take on the upset- minded Cavaliers of Virginia, who boast a record of 7-19 (1-9 ACC) and who have already been defeated by Wake in four games earlier this month.