Junior outside hitter Jade Parchment recorded a season-high 23 kills to lead the NC State volleyball team to its first win of the 2020 season, a 3-1 victory on the road against the Virginia Cavaliers. The win is also the first for first-year head coach Luka Slabe.
The Wolfpack (1-4, 1-4 ACC) had lost its first four matches to start the year, but started out well against Virginia (1-4, 0-4 ACC), winning the first two sets. The Cavaliers won the third set to make the score 2-1, but the Pack bounced back in the fourth to close out the match.
After falling behind 3-0 to begin the first set, NC State went on a quick 5-0 run to take the lead. Shortly after, the Pack went on a 5-1 run to take a 16-10 lead. The two teams went back and forth the rest of the set with Virginia cutting the lead to one point three times with the score 21-20, 22-21 and 23-22, but NC State won the last two points to take a 1-0 match lead.
With the score tied at 10 in the second set, the Wolfpack went on a 10-2 run to take the lead 20-12 and put Virginia away by scoring five of the next nine points. The team won the second set 25-16, going up 2-0 in the match.
After NC State took an early 3-2 lead in the third set, Virginia went on a 4-0 run to take the lead for the first time since the first set. The Pack would draw close in the set, tying the score several times, but was unable to to take the lead due in large part to five service errors in the third set alone. With the score 21-20, Virginia won four of the next five points to take the third set 25-21 and make the match score 2-1 in NC State’s favor.
Virginia was up for most of the early part of the fourth set before NC State took the lead 11-10. The Pack went on a 4-1 run to take a four-point lead, a cushion it would keep until Virginia went on a 4-0 run to tie the score at 19. After NC State went up 23-21, the longest and most dramatic point of the match ensued, lasting over a minute, but the Pack ultimately won the point to set up match point. Fittingly, it was Parchment who got the final kill to win the set 25-21 and clinch the match 3-1.
If she hadn’t before, Parchment has emerged as a star for the NC State volleyball team. Her 23 kills led all players on both teams and are just one short of her career high of 24. Just behind Parchment in kills during today’s match was senior opposite hitter Melissa Evans, who recorded 16 in her second game back after missing last week’s home opener against North Carolina with an injury. The two have established themselves as a dynamic duo that will be a force to be reckoned with the rest of the season.
Other notable NC State performances came from sophomore middle/right side hitter Lydia Adam, who finished with a career-high 11 kills, junior middle blocker Pam Chukwujekwu, who led all players with eight blocks, and sophomore setter Kristen McDaniel, who led all players with 50 assists.
The Pack ended with a .324 hitting percentage, its best of the year thus far, and also tallied a season-best 56 assists. One area that NC State must clean up in order to become a better team is serving as it committed 17 service errors, many of which came at crucial points in the game that halted momentum.
Nonetheless, it was a good day for the Wolfpack, which was finally able to chalk one up in the win column exactly a month after the season began.
NC State will face Virginia again on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. before heading back to Raleigh to take on Virginia Tech twice next weekend. The match against Virginia on Saturday will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
