Volleyball season is underway at NC State, as the Wolfpack is fresh off a 2-1 showing from the UNC-Wilmington tournament this past weekend. The State team is full of talent, both rookie and veteran, and looks to make a push for its third-ever NCAA Tournament appearance this December.
As one of the five seniors on this season’s squad, outside hitter Dariyan Hopper is leading the charge in 2014. Through the team’s three games, Hopper leads the team in kill attempts at 130 and is second on the team with 32 kills. The Technician had a chance to catch up with Hopper to speak with her about the team’s upcoming season.
Technician: This is your last year with the team. What are your goals for your final season?
Hopper: Our goals for the team are to make it in the top third of the ACC and ultimately make it to the [NCAA] tournament. I think that we have a lot of experience having five seniors coming back that have been a huge part of the program’s growth. If we put that together with all the new talent that we have, we can go really far.
T: On a personal level, what do you hope to achieve this season?
H: Being the senior that underclassmen—freshmen in particular—can come to. I can help them out, whether it be in the classroom or on the court. Taking them aside and coaching them after our coaches have put their input in and given them a bit of knowledge that we have from playing.
T: You and the other seniors have been through a lot. What is your fondest memory from the past three years?
H: Probably my sophomore year. Just making it to the tournament was an amazing feeling. I think myself and our captains, [seniors] Rachel [Buckley] and Alesha [Wilson], want that for everybody this year. We want the freshmen to experience what we got to experience because it’s awesome being able to make it that far.
T: What have you seen from the freshmen as a group?
H: They’re extremely talented. I think they bring a lot of diversity to our team. They’re all very driven. You can tell the difference between when we came in as freshmen and when they came in as freshmen. They knew when they came here that this program had come from nothing, and now we’ve made a statement that we can play. They’re ready to come in and give their best.
T: You were selected to the preseason All-ACC roster, how will this added expectation affect the way you prepare and play during the season?
H: It was an honor to be selected, but I don’t want to constantly think about that or having to prove how I got ranked throughout the season. I’m just going to go out there and play. I’m going to play for my teammates, do the best that I can, and leave it all out on the court.
T: In the same release that included the All-ACC preseason team, your team was predicted to finish seventh in the conference. You’ve defied expectations before. What will it take to do that again this season?
H: It’s going to take a lot of sacrifice and a lot of drive and a lot of push. Coming from this past weekend, we’ve learned a lot of things that we need to work on to make it to the top. Seventh is not where we think we deserve to be. People still don’t respect us, and we know we’re going to work so hard to make sure that we are one, two or three in conference this year.
T: Looking to the season ahead, what games are you looking forward to the most?
H: Most of us always look forward to playing Duke and Carolina because they’re in our conference and they’re right down the road; that’s always a cool rivalry. Florida State will be a huge game. We haven’t beaten them since I’ve been here, on the road or at home, so I think that’s a huge goal for us. They’re a really talented team, and beating them would give us an extra boost of confidence to go far.
Make sure to catch Hopper and the rest of the Pack in its first home games of the season at the Courtyard Midtown Classic this weekend. The first game of the tournament will be against Rice at 7 p.m. in Reynolds Coliseum.
