The NC State volleyball team is set to host Virginia Tech on Thursday, Oct. 29 and Friday, Oct. 30 for its last two matches of this season. The Pack most recently picked up its first two wins of 2020 on the road against Virginia this past weekend.
Friday’s win was the first NC State (2-4 ACC) victory for new head coach Luka Slabe. The Wolfpack defeated Virginia with a final score of 3-1, hitting a season high .324 as a team. Three players recorded double digit kills, including junior opposite hitter Jade Parchment with 23, one away from her personal best. The overall excellent performance was also highlighted by senior opposite hitter Melissa Evans with 16 kills and sophomore setter Kristen McDaniel, who had a career-high 50 assists as well as seven digs and three blocks. The entire match was a team effort, and it highlighted the possible bright future of this squad.
Despite a slow start to the next match, hitting only .087 in the first set, the Wolfpack was able to follow up its win with another, largely thanks to another dominant performance from Parchment with 15 kills, nine digs and four blocks. All five of NC State’s hitters recorded at least five kills and both middle blockers, freshman Riley Shaak and junior Pam Chukwujekwu, were errorless and hit a combined .433.
To close out the season, the Wolfpack is slated to host Virginia Tech (5-2, 4-2 ACC) in two matches that were rescheduled due to the lack of available players for the Hokies.
Virginia Tech is most recently returning from a 3-1 loss against No. 14 Duke back on Oct. 25. The Hokies began their season with a 3-0 win over The Citadel, as well as a win and a loss against UNC, before running into some COVID-19 trouble, leading the team to have to reschedule a few matches. The team seems to have bounced back from its troubles earlier in the season, which will make for two fun matches to close out 2020.
Graduate student outside hitter Kaity Smith leads Virginia Tech in kills this season with 100, including 11 in the most recent game against Duke. She is second on the leaderboard of points scored for the Hokies, with 111.5, falling just behind senior middle blocker/right-side hitter Marisa Cerchio, who has recorded 112.5. On average, Virginia Tech records 12.4 kills per set, with their opponents just ahead notching 12.5 per set, something NC State can take advantage of seeing as the Pack typically records just below this rate at 11.9.
To continue its hot streak, the Pack needs to keep up the same energy from the matches against Virginia. Although in the last match the Wolfpack was able to overcome a slower start, it is important that NC State strikes early and continues to play sharply.
Both matches will be aired on ACC Network Extra, with Thursday’s event starting at 7 p.m. and Friday’s event at 5 p.m.
