The NC State volleyball team finished its season with a win in straight sets over the Virginia Tech Hokies on Friday, Oct. 30 in Reynolds Coliseum. After dropping its first four matches of the season, the Wolfpack finished the year on a tear, winning four in a row.
The first set was tightly contested, as neither squad was able to amass a lead of more than one until senior opposite hitter Melissa Evans’ kill put the Pack up 9-7. Though this point was part of a 4-0 run for NC State, the two opponents continued to trade blows until the Wolfpack rattled off five straight points to make it 17-12. From there, the lead was never relinquished, and the Pack won the first set 25-15.
“The message was: ‘They’re going to come out strong. We have got to maintain, we have got to focus, we have got to push back. That’s where a lot of the focus is,’” said head coach Luka Slabe. “That was basically my 30 seconds before we went out on the court. Just to be ready for everything, be ready to adjust and adapt to something different that we haven’t seen from VT before. I think we managed it well, I’m proud of how the girls did today.”
The second set was much like the first as the Wolfpack and the Hokies went neck-and-neck well into the set. The Hokies looked to be pulling away when a service error by redshirt senior middle blocker Mmachi Nwoke put Virginia Tech up 15-12. It certainly wasn’t all blunders from Nwoke though, as she made her first-career service ace in the first set.
“We’ve been trying to be disciplined all along, and to finally see the consistency that we’ve been looking for on our team, and to get the outcome that we’re looking for, really feels good to watch everything fall into place,” said junior outside hitter Jade Parchment.
But the Pack woke up immediately, stringing together another 5-0 run to pull away and win the second set 25-19. In the first two sets, NC State broke away to win each set when the team had scored 12 points.
“After 12, I think we had a couple of errors at the beginning of the matches and [Virginia Tech] had some errors, and we were going back and forth,” said redshirt junior libero Kaylee Frazier. “I think we just played really clean volleyball from then on out.”
The third set broke the trend set by the first two. NC State pounced on some opportunities, including two errors by the Hokies, to score six consecutive points and take a 10-4 lead. Again, the Pack did not let up and maintained its lead to win the set 25-10, beating Virginia Tech in straight sets.
“I think these last few weeks, we’ve really been working on making sure the little things are really good,” Frazier said. “I think when we get that and accomplish that, our team is really excited to see the outcome that we won and [Slabe] gets really excited.”
This win to close out the season is just the start for an improving program, according to Slabe.
“We’re here to make a change,” Slabe said. “To eventually be where I think this program deserves to be, top of the conference and to be consistently participating in the NCAA tournament. Is that going to happen this spring or next fall? I doubt it. But we understand that to change things, to get better, it takes time. We have the full support of administration. The girls more than obviously believe in what they’re doing, they’re a big part of this NC State program and that we’re just here to assist them and to guide them.”
For now, it is uncertain whether or not there will be a volleyball season in the spring. Regardless, the Pack’s four-game win streak to finish the season is sure to give the team some momentum heading into the offseason.
“I think these last four wins will definitely help with the momentum,” Parchment said. “Everybody’s going to go home and continue to stay on the grind, continue to work hard and that will have everything to do with how we come back this spring.”
