With a boisterous, Friday night packed crowd at Reynolds Gymnasium watching the Demon Deacons battle Big Four foe North Carolina, Wake Forest head volleyball coach Randi Smart had to move to hand signals because her team couldn’t hear her instructions.
“That’s what you want for a college atmosphere,” Smart said. “You want the student-athletes to show up and support.
“The kids couldn’t hear me say anything in the gym. We had to go to a hand-signal offense. We beat UNC that first set, and I think a lot of that was because the Heels had to play not only against us, but also the 700 fans in the stands. It was awesome.”
It was the start of a breakthrough weekend for the Deacs, as they topped both North Carolina and NC State, each in just four sets.
“It was amazing,” Smart said. “A lot of our parents came in for ‘Family Weekend.’ The band was present, and the crowd was super loud. We really appreciate everyone coming out. It was awesome to see everyone diving into volleyball this year.
“I’m always excited to play any other team, but we were really excited to see how we matched up against UNC. They are very physical and we knew they were going to get after it. I loved how composed our kids stayed. They played to win the whole night.”
Just two days after the victory over the Heels, Wake Forest returned to Reynolds and defeated the Wolfpack for the first time since 2014.
“They turned it around with an even better performance two days later,” Smart reflected. “To watch the team learn how to do that and not just put together two good nights, but to play even better the second time, I was just so proud of them. You can really see the growth. From the spring, we started working on competing and mental toughness. It just showed how hard they worked from the spring all the way to this point.
“I’m not going to lie, I hate losing more than I enjoy winning. But they never took a step back, nor did I ever feel like we were the passengers in the car. You can’t play in third gear in this conference. I always felt like we were in control of the match, both nights.”
Instead of one mega-star for whom opposing teams have to account for, Smart has assembled a balanced team in terms of skill, but also diverse in their path to Wake Forest. She’s merged an extremely talented freshmen class with key returners and impact transfers.
“What this team is figuring out is…
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