Wake Forest had just eight attacking errors and finished the match with a team-hitting percentage of .515 in a 3-0 victory over host East Tennessee State in Brooks Gym Tuesday night.
ETSU, which falls to 5-16 overall, was overmatched by the sheer size of the Demon Deacons (11-12). The Buccaneers accumulated 20 attacking errors and hit .146 as a team, while being out-blocked 7-2. Wake Forest dominated the net from the beginning to shutout the Bucs 30-19, 30-17, 30-18.
Offensively, the Bucs were led by freshman Nicole Ryan and junior Rachel Shifflet who tallied 10 and 11 kills, respectively. Freshman setter Renee Vesey served up 29 assists, while on the defensive end Karen Freeburg totaled 11 digs.
“We had a lot of energy to start the match and worked hard, but we were just overmatched physically,” ETSU head coach Deane Webb said. “Wake Forest is a good team and they played better than we did tonight. As long as we keep our heads up and don’t get discouraged, then we’ll be alright.”
The Demon Deacons were led by Sophomore Tarah Shelton who had a match-high 12 kills and no errors on 19 attempts (.632), while juniors Sara Beth DeLisle and Jessica Hauff posted 10 kills each. DeLisle hit .643 for the three-game match and Hauff converted for a percentage of .692. Ashlee Phillips dished out 31 assists in the first two games before yielding the spot on the floor to Erin Borhart who finished game three with 10 assists.
ETSU will play its second game of its current three-game home stand against SoCon opponent Georgia Southern. The Eagles come into Johnson City on Sunday with the league’s top record of 10-1 at 1 p.m.

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