The NC State volleyball team picked up its 13th ACC win against Clemson Thursday night at Reynolds Coliseum on Military Appreciation Night.
The Wolfpack (18-8, 13-2 ACC) had a strong night against the Tigers (7-20, 2-13 ACC). NC State won a very close first set 25-21. Clemson won the second set 25-19 by keeping the lead for the entirety of the set. The Wolfpack redeemed itself by dominating the third set 25-12. The fourth and final set of the game was won by NC State at 25-18.
“I think we did a lot of good things and I think this isn’t everything that we could accomplish tonight,” junior Teni Sopitan said. “I think we left a few things on the court. But it’s okay because we scrabbled some points together. This by far isn’t the best that we’ve played but I’m satisfied with how we turned it around.”
The Wolfpack came out with a new lineup: seniors Kaitlyn Kearney, Julia Brown and Emily Harris, juniors Kassie Kasper and Becky Porter, sophomore Lauryn Terry and graduate Bree Bailey.
“I like that we did that because it gives us a different look and if we need to change things up in the future due to injury or fatigue,” Bailey said. “I thought it was cool to switch it up a little bit today.”
With this new formation, the team was learning to work with new people in a game situation, keeping the game a close 6-5 for the Pack.
The Pack lost its slight lead to the Tigers at 8-6. Amongst finding themselves, the Tigers continued to extend their lead 13-9. Soon after, the Wolfpack called a timeout trailing 17-11.
After the timeout, the team wore a new look and took back points. Kills from Sopitan and Brown helped pushed the team offensively, and a double block by Kearney and Brown tied the game at 19-19.
The Wolfpack continued to push forward and took the lead again at 23-21, then made quick work of taking the first set 25-21.
“I think we focused more on our side of what we were doing,” Bailey said. “We weren’t so worried about what they were doing on their side. We knew that we were losing because of our errors and mistakes not something special that they were doing. So once we put the focus on us then I think things turned around.”
The Wolfpack still had trouble connecting the ball in the second set as the Tigers took an early 10-4 lead.
NC State took another timeout, but the effect was not the same as the first as the Tigers extended their lead to 15-7.
The point deficit did not deter the Wolfpack as it continued to persevere and push back to make it 15-10, but Clemson refused to give in and fought the Pack’s efforts, taking 20-14 lead.
A block from Brown helped the Pack close to 23-17, but Clemson’s lead allowed the Tigers to take the second set 25-19, effectively taking away the Wolfpack’s advantage.
“It’s always about going back to our process and [in] that second set we were really struggling passing,” head coach Linda Hampton-Keith said. “Let’s shore that up, let’s make sure we’re taking our time from the service line and that’s where we put our attention going forward from there.”
After losing its advantage, the Wolfpack reverted to its familiar lineup in hopes of winning the game in four sets. It proved to be effective as the team took the first three points of the third set and took an early 5-1 lead. A block from Terry prevented the Tigers from encroaching the Pack’s lead at 14-8. The Wolfpack swept the third set from the Tigers at 25-12.
“We make a cognizant decision of saying, ‘We’re going to fix this right now,’” Sopitan said. “So say if it’s passing that we’re messing up, ‘okay we’re going to fix this.’ Or if it’s a block, ‘we’re going to change this. We make a conscience effort of saying, ‘We want this to be better so we’re going to make it better.’”
Hampton-Keith echoed Sopitan’s statement.
“We talked about being in front of the game instead of always reacting to it,” Hampton-Keith said. “Reading the play and watching plays develop and being on the front end of the play as opposed to always being surprised by it. We came out pretty strong and we went from chasing things and reacting to being in control and that was a big turning point in the match.”
Having regained its advantage 2-1, NC State returned to the court to finish its match against Clemson. It wouldn’t be an easy task though, as the fourth set started at 7-7 before the Wolfpack took a 13-9 lead, and pulled away to a 20-15 lead and then a 25-18 win.
“Our main goal is to always to get better,” Bailey said. “Whether we win or lose, our goal is to improve and get better. Even though we’re at the end of the season we still have so much work left to do.”
The Wolfpack will serve it up one last time in Reynolds Coliseum for the team’s senior night Saturday at 5 p.m. against Georgia Tech.
