Pirates Rally To Defeat Wake Forest In Five Sets

Tuesday, September 16

Greenville, N.C.

6:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

8-1,0-0American

Wake Forest

4-5,0-0ACC

Wake Forest

East Carolina

September 16, 2025 | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Ellie Pate had her third consecutive double-double of the season with 16 kills and 13 digs as East Carolina outlasted Wake Forest in a five-setter (25-20, 11-25, 19-25, 25-18, 19-17) on Tuesday evening in the Pirates' home opener at Minges Coliseum.

Sydney Buchanan added 13 kills and Aulie Huff recorded 11 kills for the Pirates (8-1) who defeated Wake Forest (4-5) for the first time since Oct. 18, 1980.

Despite being outhit by the Demon Deacons, the Pirates capitalized on mistakes from Wake Forest in the beginning of the fourth set that allowed ECU to gain some early momentum.

Wake jumped out to an early 8-3 advantage in the first set, but the Pirates battled back, tying the set after back-to-back kills from Buchanan made it 8-8. The Pirates broke away from the Demon Deacons with a 5-0 scoring run to make it 17-12 and Wake was never able to threaten again in the set.

After a dominant second set from the Demon Deacons, the third set was tightly contested after Pate's kill made it 15-15 but Wake followed with a 4-0 run to take a 19-15 lead. ECU got as close as two points after Pate's service ace made the score 21-19 but another Demon Deacons' 4-0 spurt closed out the set.

The Pirates took an early 6-1 advantage in the beginning of the fourth set with three of those points coming on Wake Forest errors. Wake battled back within a point, but the Pirates had an answer for every rally and finished the set on a 3-0 run to send the match to the fifth set.

Six lead changes highlighted a back-and-forth fifth set until the Pirates finally broke through on kills from Buchanan and Carlia Northcross to take the set 19-17 and complete the comeback.

Up Next
East Carolina goes back on the road to face Kansas State and No. 25 North Carolina Sept. 20-21 in Chapel Hill. The Pirates are slated to take on the Wildcats at 6 p.m. on Saturday.