As is the norm for the autumn months, N.C. State students and fans will flock to Carter-Finley Stadium and PNC Arena as the football and men’s basketball teams compete in their respective seasons. However, everyone’s attention should shy away from the two venues off of Trinity Road and instead go to Reynolds Coliseum.
Three Wolfpack teams are making huge strides to dominate in their respective sports: volleyball, women’s basketball and gymnastics.
State’s volleyball team currently sits fourth in the ACC standings, one game behind Florida State and UNC-Chapel Hill, and is undefeated at home against conference opponents.
As the season ends, the fans should be as engaged in the Pack’s success even more than ever before. With crucial matches against Virginia, Virginia Tech and the Tar Heels, State needs as much support as possible as it pushes for a potential ACC Championship and its second consecutive NCAA tournament bid. Because the Pack already handed the conference’s top team, No. 17 Duke, for its only conference loss of the season, the former is not as out of reach as it seems.
The women’s basketball team has played two games under new head coach Wes Moore, and State has thrived under his new regime. The Pack will be a tough conference contender in the coming months.
State returns six seniors, and all of them played considerable minutes in last season’s campaign. The Pack’s lineup also utilizes three powerful freshmen that have already shown that they can perform competently at the collegiate level.
In an atmosphere where the most loyal Wolfpack fans attend regularly, there is no reason why the Pack cannot run the table at home against the toughest ACC competition such as No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 12 UNC-CH. Its biggest test will come on Dec. 20 as it takes on its toughest non-conference opponent: the No. 14 LSU Tigers.
After winning the EAGL championship last season, the State gymnastics team will look to defend and reclaim the title in 2014. Though the team does not begin competition until Jan. 12 in Chapel Hill, the Pack has already begun preparations for the season and is poised for the new campaign.
State only lost two of its regular competitors from last season, and the title hopes are just as bright, if not brighter, than they were last year.
This is a wake-up call for students, fans and everyone else in Wolfpack Nation. Because people are worried about the state of the football and men’s basketball teams, the attention has been diverted away from the Pack teams that have continuously been successful.
It hasn’t mattered at all how well the volleyball or women’s basketball team has done in the eyes of the student body, but as long as sophomore running back Shadrach Thornton rushes for 200 yards and sophomore forward T.J. Warren drops 20-plus points against a subpar team everything is all right in the world of N.C. State athletics, right? Wrong.
The success of the revenue sports does not solely define the overall success of the Pack’s athletic program. These three sports are performing at the top of their game, and luckily for the students, they can all be found at one historic location at the end of Dunn Avenue.
