The NC State volleyball team completed its first weekend ACC sweep of the season, defeating Syracuse 3-2 Friday, and dominating Boston College 3-1 on Sunday. After weekend play the Wolfpack improved to 13-9 (6-4 ACC).
On Friday night, State faced off against the Syracuse Orange in what turned out to be a wildly exciting game, in front of a season-high 5,500 fans. The team’s stellar play has had a positive effect on attendance and Primetime with the Pack likely assisted in creating this high-energy environment. After seeing the final result, the fans may have given State the edge it needed to down the Orange.
The game began with Cuse showing no signs of being intimidated by the big stage. The visiting team started the set by taking a 3-0 lead and never relinquished it. However, this set was more of a case of State being in its own way. Syracuse led 13-11 when it went on a 7-2 run that was assisted by five Wolfpack errors.
The early lack of focus was a little concerning, however, the Pack won the next two sets by a combined score of 50-40. The fifth set was as tightly contested as the entire game was, with five ties and two lead changes in the set.
Late in the set, the game was tied at 12 all when NC State head coach Linda Hampton-Keith took a timeout. After her pep talk the team came out sharp and closed the game out on a 3-0 run.
“When we’re in those situations I always remind the team this is fun,” Hampton-Keith said. “These are the moments that we live for. It’s 12-12 in the fifth. You can take that two ways. You can get really tight and put a lot of pressure on yourself or we can relax and enjoy it and play with confidence and enjoy ourselves regardless of the outcome.”
Wolfpack junior outside hitter, Julia Brown, absolutely stole the show posting a double-double with career highs of kills and digs posting 31 and 16 respectively against the Orange.
The Wolfpack continued its great play against Boston College on Sunday. State started the game with high intensity winning the first set, 25-14. The first set did not have any lead changes or ties.
The second set was a more back-and-forth game, consisting of five lead changes and nine ties. The Wolfpack fought long and hard to edge the Eagles in the set 25-21. Freshman middle blocker Lauryn Terry helped in the winning effort by having three kills late in the set. Terry was remarkable in the first two sets by tallying five kills on five attempts, giving her seven points.
“I was really impressed with myself,” Terry said. “I haven’t played for a while so this game was definitely a confidence booster.”
Despite being down two sets to none, the Eagles took control over set three. There was only one lead change and two ties, and Boston College never looked back after taking the lead with the fifth point in the set. The Eagles won the set 25-19.
The fourth set was filled with great energy and intensity from both teams. The Eagles opened the set with a 10-5 lead, but the Wolfpack battled back to tie the score up at 16 and then went into a fierce back-and-forth point battle. The Wolfpack ended on a strong note by scoring three-straight points, with Brown tallying two kills to seal the win, 27-25.
Terry played extremely well against the Eagles, doubling her previous career-high in kills with eight and producing her highest amount of points with 10.5.
“Lauryn has worked incredibly hard for two weeks now and we thought she earned the right to play today,” Hampton-Keith said. “By putting up those kinds of numbers she really solidified her spot there moving forward, so that’s nice to see and I’m really proud of her for doing that.”
The Wolfpack looks to continue this hot streak in ACC play as it visits Pittsburgh Friday.
Maggie Speaks sets the ball against the Big Orange. Speaks had five spikes in the game on Friday at Reynolds Coliseum. The Pack defeated Syracuse 3-2.
