The N.C. State volleyball team wrapped up its spring season Saturday in Chapel Hill, as the Wolfpack played its last of three spring tournaments – all hosted by schools in the Triangle.
The day started rough for State, as the team entered the tournament without senior libero Alston Kearns. The Pack would lose another key member when they arrived at Carmichael Arena, as middle blocker Morgan Cormier had to leave the tournament due to illness.
Because of the lack of personnel, assistant coach Pete Hoyer, who was filling in for head coach Bryan Bunn, had to improvise with his lineup. As a result, the team dropped both of its first two matches against UNC-Chapel and UNC-Wilmington.
“I didn’t think we were resilient as we needed to be [in the first two games],” Hoyer said. “Obviously, we faced some adversity; we had some people playing out of position, but I felt like we could’ve been tougher.”
One of the more interesting formations included both of the Pack’s setters — sophomore Tanna Aljoe and freshman Maggie Speaks — on the court at the same time. Speaks was slotted at middle blocker, her position in high school, but still was able to place the ball accurately for the hitters.
Junior outside hitter Dariyan Hopper said that though the lineup was unorthodox, it was nice having a setter available to set her up for the kill.
“It was different, but it worked out well,” Hopper said. “If Tanna dug a ball, then Maggie could set it, so it always gave us two options.”
After the lunch break, State took the floor against reigning ACC-champion Duke. On March 5 in Durham, the Blue Devils scorched the Pack, sweeping the team in two sets.
One week made all the difference for State, as the team battled through Duke’s strong front line to a victory in the first set.
The Pack carried its momentum into the second set, defeating the Blue Devils again to complete the sweep. Though the victory came in an unscored tournament, Hopper said the victory was still significant.
“I think that’s what a lot of people get confused about,” Hopper said. “It is a spring game, we only play two sets, but it’s competitive. We work hard over spring to be where we are during fall. This has a lot to do with how we prepare, and I think that us coming out and beating Duke definitely gave us more confidence.”
Entering the last game of the day against UNC-Charlotte, State suffered yet another loss, as junior middle blocker Alesha Wilson sat out with a knee injury that she suffered against Duke. Wilson appeared to be fine, as she was walking around after the game, but Aljoe said that her knee was aggravated from an injury suffered during the regular season.
The loss of the team’s last true middle blocker forced Hoyer to stretch his bench to the limit. However, the Pack played strong through the adversity, and the team’s three freshman recorded valuable minutes in the starters’ absence.
“Last season, we had 16 girls on the team, now we’re down to nine,” Aljoe said. “[The freshmen] have stepped up, filled in positions that we needed.”
Hoyer said that while there were some issues that he wanted to see cleaned up, his main goal for his team on Saturday was to be competitive.
“This afternoon, I felt like we did a great job of coming back and competing,” Hoyer said. “We had people playing out of position, but we could still compete. Bottom line is you have to make the ball land on their side of the net, and I feel like we did that, especially in the Duke game.”
N.C. State will have seven new freshmen joining the team in the fall, as the Pack will look to build on the high level of success that it has seen over the past two seasons.
