NC State Athletics persevered through another week of intense competition as the regular season begins to wrap up for winter sports teams and the spring sports teams start to gain some traction.
Women’s basketball struggles to finish strong in the ACC
NC State women’s basketball came out of a busy week with mixed results. After hosting the Virginia Tech Hokies on Monday, Feb. 6, the Pack went on the road to face-off against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Thursday, Feb. 9 and the Virginia Cavaliers on Sunday, Feb. 12. The red-and-white managed to slip past the Demon Deacons 51-42, but fell to the Hokies 73-61 and the Cavaliers 71-59.
After closing out the month of January with a promising stretch of wins against some talented ACC teams, the Wolfpack has fallen back into bad habits. Poor shot selection, inefficient passing and lackluster defense have resulted in the losses of three of the team’s last four games.
Read more about the Pack’s loss to Virginia Tech.
Read more about NC State’s win at Wake Forest.
Read more about the Wolfpack’s loss at Virginia.
Track and field sets three school records
NC State track and field split up to compete in two meets on Friday, Feb. 10 and Saturday, Feb. 11. Three Wolfpack athletes made school history over the two days of competition.
Graduate student Cameron Murray kicked off the weekend with a 7.61-second effort in the men’s 60m hurdle final at the Tiger Paw Invite, taking second place and setting a new school record in the process. In the men’s 800m, junior Zach Huges set a new school record at 1:49.55, capturing 20th place at the Valentine Invitational. Also at Valentine, graduate student Ian Shanklin set an NC State record in the men’s 5000m with his time of 13:29.61.
Read more about the Pack’s performance.
Gymnastics comes up short at quad-meet
NC State gymnastics traveled to Maryland to compete against the Pitt Panthers, the Towson Tigers and the Temple Owls in a quad-meet hosted by Towson. The then-No. 23 Pack scored a season-low 194.775 points and lost to all three teams despite being the only top-25 ranked team in attendance.
For the most part, the losses can be attributed to the Wolfpack’s disappointing performance on the uneven bars in the first rotation. Three NC State gymnasts fell off of the bars during their routines, producing a season-low team score of 47.450. Despite impressive performances in the three other events, including a season-high 49.375 on the floor, the Pack couldn’t recover from its subpar start to the day.
Read more about the Pack’s disappointing outcome at Towson.
Wrestling remains undefeated at Reynolds Coliseum
NC State wrestling took down the No. 17 Pitt Panthers in a much more lopsided contest than fans likely anticipated. The No. 6 Pack defeated the Panthers 23-6, winning seven of 10 bouts and handing them their first ACC loss of the season.
This match featured seven individual ranked-on-ranked bouts, five of which were won by the red-and-white. Most of the bouts were close, but No. 7 sophomore Ed Scott stole the show in the 157-pound bout, forcing a tech fall in the third period to earn five team points. With the win, the Wolfpack puts itself in good position to win at least a share of the regular season ACC title.
Read more about the Pack’s battle with Pitt.
Men’s basketball splits two games
NC State men’s basketball went on the road this week to take on the Virginia Cavaliers and the Boston College Eagles. The Pack fell to the No. 8 Cavaliers 63-50 on Tuesday, Feb. 7, but bounced back to defeat the Eagles 92-62 on Saturday, Feb. 11.
On Tuesday, the red-and-white was certainly feeling the pressure in its first game against a ranked opponent since 2019. Throughout the entirety of the contest, Virginia dictated the pace and momentum of the game, making the Wolfpack look undeserving of its No. 22 ranking. The game against Boston College was a different story — NC State dominated from start to finish. Four Pack athletes scored over 15 points, including graduate guard Jarkel Joiner, who scored a game-high 26.
Read more about the Pack’s heated match-up against Cavaliers.
Read more about NC State’s blowout win over Boston College.
Men’s tennis wins two, loses one
NC State men’s tennis hosted the North Carolina Central Eagles and the Michigan Wolverines before going on the road to compete against the Princeton Tigers. The Pack swept the Eagles 7-0, lost to the No. 4 Wolverines 4-0 and defeated the Tigers 5-2.
On Wednesday, Feb. 8, the Wolfpack made quick work of a winless NC Central team but was soon given a taste of its own medicine when it took on Michigan just two days later. However, unlike the previous match, the match against the ranked Wolverines was fairly competitive. The red-and-white was able to get back on track at Princeton, winning the doubles point in dominating fashion and only letting up two singles wins.
Read more about NC State’s win over NCCU.
Read more about the Pack’s loss to Michigan.
Read more about the Wolfpack’s match at Princeton.
Women’s tennis dominates No. 20 California
NC State women’s tennis swept the No. 20 California Bears on Sunday, Feb. 12 to claim its third consecutive win over a ranked opponent. Through the two doubles matches and three singles matches, the Bears never scored more than three points in a set. The Pack is now 5-1 heading into ACC play.
Read more about the Pack’s win over California.
Softball gets off to a slow start
NC State softball began its 2023 season at the Candrea Classic in Tucson, Arizona. The Pack competed in five games from Friday, Feb. 10 to Sunday, Feb. 12 and lost all five. Over the course of the weekend, the Wolfpack lost to the Kansas Jayhawks and the Arizona Wildcats twice and the Long Beach State Sharks once.
In both games against the Wildcats, the red-and-white lost 15-1 in five innings. Against Kansas, the Pack lost 12-6 on Friday and 12-4 in five innings on Saturday. NC State played a much closer game against the Sharks, but still lost 4-2.
Read more about the Pack’s first day of competition.
Read more about NC State’s losses on day two of the Candrea Classic.
Read more about the Wolfpack’s final game of the Candrea Classic.
Women’s golf starts off strong in spring competition
NC State women’s golf traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico to compete in the Collegiate Invitational on Sunday, Feb. 5 and Monday, Feb. 6. The Pack put up a number of impressive scores across the board, ultimately finishing the two-day, 54-hole event in second place with a score of 896.
Three athletes led the way for the Wolfpack, scoring 223 points apiece; freshman Vania Simont, sophomore Lauren Olivares Leon and senior Natalie Armbruester all tied for 13th place. Junior Isabel Amezcua was the next finisher for the red-and-white, tying for 33rd place with a score of 229. Finally, junior Jaclyn Kenzel and senior Inja Fric finished in 57th and 58th place, respectively.
