NC State volleyball continued on a four-game road trip Sunday afternoon with a 3-1 win over Virginia Tech at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Virginia.
The Wolfpack (8-6, 2-2 ACC) had a slow start against the Hokies (11-5, 2-2 ACC), but after a loss in the first set, the Pack took the next three sets in a row to secure its second ACC win this season. The first set was a close 25-21 loss for NC State. The Pack had a slight 26-24 overtime win in the second set, and then easily took the third set 25-19. NC State won a close fourth set 25-23 to wrap up the win.
The Wolfpack had 11 more kills than the Hokies throughout the course of the four sets. Three members of the Pack scored double digit kills. Senior middle blocker Teni Sopitan had 18 kills followed by sophomore outside hitter Melissa Evans, who scored 16 kills, and freshman outside hitter Jade Parchment’s 11 kills.
The Pack had 56 assists, 45 of them from senior setter Kylie Pickrell, compared to the Hokies 43 assists to keep the ball in play and set up attacks. The Wolfpack was able to have one more block and three more digs to barely outdo the Hokies defensively. Junior middle blocker Lauryn Terry had a total of six blocks over the course of four sets.
In the first set the Pack set up more attacks, true to its nature as an offensive team, but failed to connect with every set from Pickrell, allowing Virginia Tech to have a higher hitting percentage by a small margin of .73. This gave the Hokies the slight lead they needed to snatch the first set from the Pack.
In the second set the Pack had eight more kills than the Hokies as the team. The set went into a short overtime, as NC State held on to win 26-24. The Pack had a .200 hitting percentage in the second set, while the Hokies were set back at .045.
The third set was the best set for the Wolfpack, which had a .240 hitting percentage and six less attacking errors than the Hokies.
The fourth set was a close set, as the Hokies woke up and started to set up a strong offense again, bringing up their hitting percentage to .222. This closed the margin with the Pack’s hitting percentage of .268.
NC State will play game three of its road trip Friday at Florida State in Tallahassee.
