The NC State women’s volleyball team split the senior weekend, winning straight sets against Virginia Tech, but losing to Pittsburgh 3-2 in Carmichael Gym.
The Wolfpack (15-13, 4-12 ACC) redeemed itself in the second season match against Virginia Tech (15-12, 6-9 ACC) Friday night with a straight set win. The previous match against the Hokies resulted in a 1-3 loss for the Wolfpack.
“I think we’ve had a tough stretch of games, and tonight we wanted to go out and get this win,” head coach Bryan Bunn said. “We played for each other and came out with confidence, and we just need to continue to do that.”
NC State came out swinging against the Hokies in set one, tying the score 13 times with the lead changing three times. It was a hard-fought set with sophomore outside hitter Julia Brown tying the score at 23 with consecutive kills. Freshman middle blocker Blayke Hranicka helped wrap it up with a kill followed by a Tech attack error. The Pack won the set 27-25.
Second set was dominated early by the Pack racking a 12-8 lead forcing a Hokie timeout. Tech made a small comeback and trimmed the State lead to 22-21. After a Wolfpack timeout, State made the three point run necessary to clinch the set 25-22.
The third set showed promise as NC State took another lead 8-4. Virginia Tech tied the score at eight and took the lead until the end of the set. Brown came through with two kills to tie it at 22 but the Hokies were right behind her with set point opportunity 24-22. Brown and sophomore middle blocker Kaitlyn Kearney put up a tight block to tie it at 24 as the heated battle for the set point continued. Sophomore outside hitter Perry Ramsey and senior middle blocker Morgan Cormier both had kills in the final points which won the set 28-26 and the match 3-0 for the Wolfpack.
“We played really well tonight,” Bunn said. “We played with a lot of energy, which was something we lacked on the road last weekend. We came out and fought hard. We were down in the third set and made a nice comeback and pulled through.”
Brown had 15 kills and a .400 attack percentage against the Hokies. Junior setter Maggie Speaks had an impressive match tallying her fifth double-double of the season with 42 assists and 13 digs.
“Julia [Brown] was unreal,” Bunn said. “She had a big block at the end of the third set. Morgan [Cormier] came in and did a great job, so did Perry [Ramsey].”
Bunn was equally excited about Speaks’ performance as well.
“She [Speaks] was on point,” Bunn said. “She was struggling earlier in the season but really responded well this week in practice. She did well defensively tonight also; she moved the ball around a lot and served some nice points for us.”
Saturday night’s senior night match against the Pittsburgh Panthers (21-7,11-5 ACC) was a battle. Before the five-set match began, seniors Tanna Aljoe and Morgan Cormier were honored.
“We all wanted to come out and do it for the seniors,” Brown said. “We’ve had a rough couple of weekends and I think that fueled us. We’ve been working really hard in practice.”
State put the Panthers to the test in the second matchup of the season and took as much as a six-point lead early on. The score tied at 22 and again at 24 until the Pack took the set 30-28. The second set was just as difficult to take control of as both teams kept the score close. Pitt took a small lead at 21-18, and the Pack tried to keep up, but the Panthers took it 25-22. The third set was dominated by Pitt despite the Pack tying the score at 20. Pitt responded with a 5-2 run to take the set 25-22.
The Wolfpack came back with an attitude and took the fourth set 25-21 thanks to Brown, Ramsey and Hranicka each putting down four kills in the set. It was looking like a win for the Pack when the team took an 11-9 lead. Pitt rallied with a six-point run to take it 15-11.
NC State ends its season on a four-game road stretch that starts at UNC-Chapel Hill Wednesday at 6 p.m.
