Wake Forest University

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Conference competition is set for Wake Forest volleyball this upcoming fall, as the program announced its 2025 Atlantic Coast Conference schedule on Thursday. Wake Forest will release the non-conference portion of its fall schedule at a later date.

The Demon Deacons will compete in 20 matches against league foes, including five versus Big Four opponents and 10 home showings. For the second straight year, fans will have the opportunity to purchase season tickets for courtside seating inside Varsity Arena.

“It is going to be another very competitive season in the ACC, and I am anxious to begin my first season at Wake Forest with the opportunity to play such outstanding teams at home,” said head coach Jeff Hulsmeyer. “Our first home conference weekend brings some very familiar foes. Then, for the first time ever, Stanford and California will make the trip to Winston-Salem. I can’t be more pleased to begin my Wake Forest tenure and my 10th season in the league this year. I look forward to being in the friendly confines of Varsity Arena with all the support from the fans and alums in attendance. If you haven’t been to a match in a while, I encourage you to make plans now to be a part of the Varsity Arena experience with our team.”

Wake Forest will open conference play on the road with a pair of Big Four matchups at North Carolina (Sept. 26) and Duke (Sept. 28). The Deacs are set to extend their two longest, ongoing series within program history, stepping into the 78th and 73rd meetings with the Blue Devils and Tar Heels, respectively.

The first week of October will see the team host three showings inside Varsity Arena, starting with an ACC home opener versus Florida State (Oct. 3) before taking on Miami (Oct. 5) and NC State (Oct. 8). Three days later, the Deacs and Wolfpack will meet again, in Raleigh, for a Saturday afternoon tilt.

A pair of home matches make up mid-October for Wake Forest, bringing in Georgia Tech (Oct. 17) and Clemson (Oct. 19). The Deacs are on a four-match win streak versus the latter. The following week will involve the team heading out of state for tests at SMU (Oct. 24) and Pitt (Oct. 26). Wake Forest will take on SMU in a true road match for the first time in program history.

Wake Forest will wrap October and kick off November with a four-match homestand, facing a mix of West Coast and Midwest foes – California (Oct. 31), Stanford (Nov. 2), Notre Dame (Nov. 7) and Louisville (Nov. 9). This fall will feature the second-ever meeting between the Deacs and both of the West Coast schools. Wake Forest has won its last pair of matches over Notre Dame at home. Louisville finished as the NCAA runner-up in the postseason tournament this past December.

Following its home stretch, the Deacs will spend two straight weeks out of state, heading to Syracuse (Nov. 14), Boston College (Nov. 16), Virginia Tech (Nov. 21) and Virginia (Nov. 23). Wake Forest has taken the last two meetings over Syracuse and seven of the last eight over Virginia, including three straight on the road. Versus the Hokies, the Deacs have finished victorious in three of the previous four matchups.

The team’s regular-season home finale will feature a rematch with Duke on Nov. 26 during Thanksgiving week. On Black Friday (Nov. 28), Wake Forest will close out the regular season with a visit to Notre Dame.

Fan Information

There will continue to be free admission for general admission seating for all home volleyball single matches. The team plays each home contest in Varsity Arena, located on the third level of Reynolds Gymnasium (21 Wingate Rd, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27109).

After debuting a year ago, courtside seating will make a return to Varsity Arena for the fall 2025 campaign. Wake Forest is set to house 28 padded floor seats for spectator viewing, placed opposite of the team benches and alongside the sidelines. Season tickets can be purchased for $150 apiece. In addition, courtside season tickets can be renewed by contacting the Wake Forest Ticket Office at (336) 758-3322 or tix@wfu.edu, as the priority renewal deadline is Friday, June 20.

New at the Helm

Named the 13th head coach in program history on Jan. 9, 2025, Jeff Hulsmeyer will enter his first season this fall. The Louisville, Ky. native brings over three decades worth of coaching experience at the collegiate volleyball level. Hulsmeyer’s arrival to DEACTOWN came following 10 seasons at Florida State, where he served as associate head coach while helping guide the Seminoles to nine straight NCAA tournament appearances and the 2023 ACC Championship. In addition to his time at FSU, Hulsmeyer previously was the offensive and recruiting coordinator of Kansas State volleyball for six years, following head coaching stints at both Georgetown College and Purdue University. The late 1990s involved him being an assistant coach at Illinois, preceded by three years apiece as head coach of Arkansas State and Western Kentucky, where he began his coaching journey as a graduate assistant for the latter.

Who’s Back?

A quartet of four-year program members headline the fall 2025 roster – Emma Farrell, Paige Crawford, Rian Baker and Olivia Murphy. The group has combined for 313 appearances over the last three years. A standout libero, Farrell has been the team leader in digs for three consecutive seasons. The Norcross, Georgia, native finished sixth in the conference in digs (4.05/set) by the end of 2024, resting in the top-7 for a second straight year, while also ranking second in that same area among all individuals for ACC play only (4.37/set). Crawford, an outside hitter, has paced the Deacs in kills each season since her freshman campaign, finishing with 335 this past fall. Additionally, Crawford has led Wake in service aces for the past two seasons. Her 39 total aces in 2024 tied with Hanna Lee (2015) for the 14th-best mark in a single season within program records. Orchestrating the offense at setter, Baker has led Wake Forest in assists for the past two seasons, having reached over 2,000 for her career last November. She became the eighth all-time player in program history to notch the milestone. Baker also finished second on the roster in service aces (34) and third in digs (199) as a junior. Murphy made her return to the court prior to the 2024 season after missing all of 2023. She was named to the 2024 Wake Forest Invitational All-Tournament Team after the first weekend of the season and played in 28 of the team’s 31 matches, making 15 starts, while ranking fourth on the roster in both kills and blocks.

Olivia Fish and Elena Dragani are set to step into their upperclassmen years. Fish took a redshirt year this past season with an injury. Sbe appeared in 24 matches as a freshman with seven starts and totaled 118 kills and 27 blocks. A rising junior, Dragani has appeared in 13 matches in her first two years, competing at the setter spot.

Two more Deacs will return as sophomores in 2025 – Becca Bellows and Dhru Lalaji. Bellows played a key role as a setter during her first collegiate season, finishing second on the roster in assists (528) and leading the team in assists on 13 separate occasions. She racked up four double-doubles on the year while playing in all but one of the team’s 31 matches, including 13 starts. Lalaji, a defensive specialist, appeared in 46 sets across 19 matches as a freshman, posting a season-best eight digs twice in conference play.

Nothing Easy at the Net

By the conclusion of the 2024 season, Wake Forest finished sixth in blocks as a team among league member schools, totaling a 2.45 per-set average. The team was the only ACC program to have multiple players rest in the top 10 in blocks among all conference individuals. The Deacs had one of their best all-time seasons in defending at the net, as their totals in assisted blocks (468) and total blocks (289.0) ranks second and fifth in program history, respectively. Within the current 25-point rally scoring era, those same totals stand first in a single season, up to date.

Non-Con Nuggets

The Deacs went 8-3 against non-conference competition in 2024. Wake Forest has won at least eight non-conference, regular-season matches in each of the last three seasons. Since the start of the 2019 campaign, the program has totaled a 44-11 record versus non-conference opponents. Additionally, the program has gone 15-2 at home against such foes during that span. Non-conference play did not take place during the spring 2020 season.