This weekend, the NC State volleyball team will host the Courtyard Midtown Classic, an annual tournament featuring three teams from across the country. This season, Rice, Toledo and UConn will make the trip to Reynolds Coliseum for the two-day event.
The Wolfpack (2-1) will face its first test Friday at 7 p.m. against Rice. The Owls recorded a very unimpressive 11-19 season last year, including a 7-7 record in Conference USA play, earning the team a No. 148 ranking in the final RPI poll of 2013.
Despite the distance, State and Rice are familiar foes. Last season, the Pack traveled to Houston to compete in the Rice Invitational II and defeated the Owls, 3-1, on their home court. The team posted a 2-1 record at the tournament, and seniors middle blocker Alesha Wilson and libero Alston Kearns both earned spots on the All-Invitational Team.
On Saturday, the Pack will face its two final opponents. First, at 1 p.m., State will face off against Toledo, a team that was just short of the top 100 teams in the RPI at No. 106. The Rockets had a record of 19-12 overall last season and coasted through the Mid-American Conference, going 12-4 in conference play.
So far, however, Toledo has been dreadful, being swept, 3-0, in all three of its matches this season. The contests have not been close either, as the Rockets have failed to score over 20 points in any set this year.
In the final match of the tournament, State will take on UConn. The Huskies had a rough 2013 campaign, going 14-19 overall and 5-13 in the American Athletic Conference. Of the four teams competing in the Midtown Classic, UConn holds the lowest RPI from last season at 204th.
However, the Huskies have had the best start to the 2014 season of all the Pack’s opponents, posting a 2-1 record thus far. The UConn team took a tough Indiana squad to five sets in its only loss.
The biggest concern heading forward for the Pack is the large amount of errors that the team has been making throughout its first three games. So far, the State squad has recorded 158 kills while committing 68 attack errors. Even worse, the team has tallied 36 service errors with a subpar serve percentage of .883.
Looking at the highlights, the Pack has adjusted well to change at the setter position. Having won the starting role over junior Tanna Aljoe, sophomore Maggie Speaks played well in Wilmington the past weekend. The Camden, South Carolina native dished out 103 assists and smacked 17 kills in 14 sets.
