The NC State volleyball team finished out its season this past weekend with two wins against Virginia Tech, leaving them with a conference record of 4-4. It took first-year head coach Luka Slabe and his team half the season to hit their stride, but once they did, the Pack had a very successful second half of the season.
The season started out with two losses to the Duke Blue Devils in Durham, an opponent the Wolfpack has not won a match against since the 2018 season. The first match in the series showed that the Pack had some work to do as it recorded 32 errors, but it was able to drive through five sets for the fourth consecutive time against Duke. NC State sought to secure a win in the second match, but fell short once again, only winning one out of four sets.
After recording two losses against Duke, the Pack attempted to regroup as it welcomed UNC-Chapel Hill to Reynolds Coliseum. The Tar Heels dominated NC State in the first match, winning all three sets. The Pack did show a significant decrease in errors, only recording 22 in the game. It came down to hitting percentage, NC State was only able to record a 0.098 hitting percentage while UNC was able to record a 0.208. In the second match of the weekend, the Pack was able to secure one set, driving UNC to four sets but losing 3-1. NC State showed a significant improvement from the first game in terms of hitting percentage, recording 0.205. The last time the Pack secured a win against UNC was in 2018.
Senior opposite hitter Melissa Evans had a momentous season, becoming one of four active ACC players with 1,000 career kills. She achieved this record in the Pack’s second match against UNC on Sunday, Oct. 18.
Moving forward with an 0-4 record, the Pack traveled to its third opponent: the Virginia Cavaliers. Slabe was still looking to secure his first win with NC State, and the Pack showed an improvement in performance in these two matches. The Pack secured a win in four sets, beating Virginia 3-1 in the first match. NC State was able to record its highest hitting percentage of the season, 0.324, as well as a season-high 23 kills from junior outside hitter Jade Parchment. NC State did not perform as well in the second match of the series but was still able to pull a 3-1 win against Virginia.
In the final weekend of its season, the Pack played Virginia Tech after the matches against the Hokies had to be rescheduled earlier in the season. NC State dominated in the first match in a 3-0 win against the Hokies. The Pack was able to best Virginia Tech in all categories except blocks. In the final game of the season, the Pack was able to beat Virginia Tech 3-0 once again. The Pack performed very well in this game, showing what it is capable of.
Throughout the season, key hitters were Evans and Parchment, as they both continued to tally high numbers of kills, with 97 and 118, respectively. Redshirt junior defense specialist/libero Kaylee Frazier led the team with 111 digs. Sophomore setter Kristen McDaniel recorded a team high 305 assists. Another notable performance was from junior middle blocker Pam Chukwujekwu, with 35 blocks.
NC State was able to finish third in the conference in digs and finished eighth overall.
The Pack showed flexibility this season, being able to adjust and improve, as seen with its positive change in performance halfway through the season. This season was unlike any other for all teams in the ACC, being split into geographically-based pods to only play other teams in their pod.
Despite the oddness of this season, the Pack showed what it is capable of. While unsure of what the coming year and season may look like, the promising end of Slabe’s premiere season shows hope for a winning streak whenever we see this women’s volleyball team return to the court.
