NC State volleyball returned to Reynolds Coliseum after a four-game road stint and swept the Syracuse Orange 3-0 on Friday night.
The Wolfpack went 2-2 on its road trip and came into the game with a lot of energy as it played in front of its home crowd for the first time since early October.
The Pack (12-7, 7-4 ACC) came into the game firing in the first two sets, winning both comfortably by double-digit margins. The third set, however, saw the Pack lose some focus which gave the Orange (13-10, 1-10 ACC) some hope and confidence. Despite playing the last set closer, the Wolfpack finished off the Orange 25-20, winning the match 3-0.
“We got to be happy about the first two sets,” said head coach Luka Slabe. “A lot of pressure from all parts of our court, and then set three we slow down because we think the job is over. It’s not done. But we gave them hope and now it’s a little bit less comfortable. So there are lessons we got to learn, and we’re pretty experienced, so we shouldn’t have those lessons halfway through the season.”
One aspect of the Pack’s game that the team members have been working on has been the service game. The star of the show this season in that area has been junior defensive specialist Sydney Daniels, who had a team-high six service aces.
“We’re really big on the serve,” Daniels said. “That’s something that we’ve been focusing on this past month. That’s how you get into the best of the ACC, the best of every moment. So we’ve really been working on that and putting in the work at practice every single day.”
The red-and-white came out with fire and excitement in its return to Raleigh. It was eager to return to Reynolds after playing four straight road games and showed its passion for Wolfpack Nation on the floor. Fan support has been growing rapidly for volleyball in the past few seasons and the team has fed off of that energy, and in this game, that was no different.
“We get to sleep in our beds, get to eat our food, go back to our routine that we like, and as always, fans are showing up more and more to watch volleyball, which is really exceptional to see,” Slabe said. “I’m very proud of our program and what we’ve been doing. We have more and more people in the matches, where maybe in the past, 300 people will show up, and now we’re talking in the thousands, so we are making small strides to where we want to be.”
Daniels reciprocated Slabe’s message.
“Being away is fun, but being able to play in Reynolds is even better,” Daniels said. “We love our fans. We love the energy. Every Friday, it’s the best place to be.”
Continuing to secure wins in front of its home crowd could serve as a confidence boost for NC State moving forward knowing it will have a large crowd behind it every time it plays at Reynolds. This will come in handy when the team enters the tough mental stretch towards the end of the season. A goal of this NC State team is to make the NCAA Tournament, and a boost in confidence can help it continue its momentum during this regular season.
“We talk about it a lot, probably the hardest part of the season is this November stretch,” Daniels said. “So we really just put in the practice. We know that is hard, but we train to do hard things, so whatever we do in practice, we’re doing in a game so we put a lot of work with everyone in our coaching staff to really put together a good game.”
The Wolfpack will play its next game on Sunday, Nov. 3 when it takes on the Boston College Eagles in Raleigh. The game is slated to start at noon.
