After a soggy Carter-Finley experience Saturday night, it’s easy for N.C. State fans to be disheartened.
When an opponent visits and knocks the Pack around like South Florida did, it becomes all the more apparent every one of our athletics programs is in some phase of a rebuilding process that almost never seems to end.
So as the leaves turn and ACC football season heats up, I feel like it would be spiritually cleansing for Wolfpack fans to visit the place where it all started: Reynolds Coliseum.
Yes, we can fawn over the idea of playing two men’s basketball games along with 15 women’s basketball games in the “house that Case built.” But with the Red/White scrimmage almost four weeks away, I am so glad there is another medium to channel my fanhood into–volleyball.
Yes, the team made history this weekend with its first ACC win since 2005, its first home ACC win since 1999 and its first 2-0 conference start since the Reagan administration. But I’ve never been one to jump on team bandwagons because of a few wins, which is why UNC never received an application with my name on it.
The wins aren’t the reason to embrace our volleyball team, the team is the reason we should embrace the wins.
Coach Charita Stubbs has had her critics during her first three years at State as her record against ACC opponents was 0-44 going into this past weekend, but her players seem to be buying into her coaching approach, and the team believes they can succeed.
The wins weren’t flukes–N.C. State dominated both Boston College and Maryland in this weekend’s victories. It was the can-do attitude that Stubbs has instilled in her team.
The team was smiling after the first win Friday night, and in Sunday’s game-four, co-captain Arlee Tamietti and sophomore Nikki Sweet were holding back giggles on the court just before the Pack took the game and the match.
Tamietti, the loud, jovial junior-transfer from Boise State is the straw that stirs the drink — she delivers in the clutch without fail and expects perfection from herself. With the other players working hard to hold themselves to her example, the team is in prime position to surprise some opponents this season.
Coach Stubbs was adamant that the team’s success had a lot to do with the crowd this weekend, and a distinct home-court advantage in Reynolds is something that has eluded the volleyball program for quite some time. This is a huge chance for fans to support a team that is fighting for ACC relevance and the program’s first win over UNC since 1997 on Oct. 14. (The Tar Heels should never be comfortable in Raleigh no matter the match’s outcome.)
So take some time to hear your voice reverberate against Reynolds’ hallowed walls when the Heels come to town and let the team know we share their struggles and their victories. Let’s let them know we believe in them too.