The NC State volleyball team cruised past Georgia Tech 3-0 in its final home match of the season in Reynolds Coliseum on Saturday, wrapping up an undefeated ACC season at home for the first time in school history.
Fresh off of a home win over Clemson, the Wolfpack (19-8, 14-2 ACC) swept Georgia Tech (12-15, 7-9 ACC) on senior night to finish its home slate of games in what has been a historic year for State. With four games remaining, the Pack is tied for first place in the ACC.
“We were excited about a lot of things,” head coach Linda Hampton-Keith said. “Georgia Tech is a really good team. We have a lot of respect for them, so we were really challenging ourselves to stay in the moment and take care of business.”
Despite the 3-0 score line, the match was far tighter than it appeared on paper. There were 22 ties and eight lead changes throughout the course of the match.
“I think a lot of teams would get kind of frazzled when it’s a tight point for point match like that,” senior Kaitlyn Kearney said. “Our team just stays so calm, talks to each other and just communicates and gets through it and really pulls away at the end.”
The Yellow Jackets jumped to an 8-6 edge over the Pack in the first set, but the Pack promptly responded. Through five kills from senior Julia Brown, the Pack leaped out to a mid-set 16-11 lead.
Maintaining this advantage, the Wolfpack steadily won the first set by a score of 25-19 and earned a 1-0 lead in the match. Key performers included graduate student Bree Bailey and Kearney who tallied five and four kills, respectively.
“We did a great job of mixing up the sets so I always got a free hit because there was one blocker up at one time,” Kearney said. “So that was awesome and I’m just happy to have played so well on my last game here.”
The Wolfpack defense came up large as well. Senior Emily Harris garnered four digs. Despite committing five errors, the Pack held a .381 hitting percentage throughout the set.
In the second set, the Pack got off to a rocky start. After struggling during the first set, the Yellow Jackets were able to take flight and built an early 5-2 lead over the Pack.
However, just as before, the Pack dug deep and through resilient play, was able to regain enough momentum to take a 13-11 lead.
From there, the set remained tight until the last few moments. Capitalizing off of a pair of Yellow Jacket errors and efficient play, the Pack held on to close out the second set by a score of 25-21.
Vital performers during the second set included Brown with four kills and redshirt sophomore Makenzie Kuchmaner with four digs on the defensive end.
The Pack only committed two errors during the entire set and forced Georgia Tech to a match-high seven errors.
Georgia Tech gained another advantage in the third set, leading 14-11. However, just as in the preceding sets, the Pack put forth a valiant effort and regained control of the set late.
Through strong offensive work and five kills from junior Teni Sopitan, the Pack closed out the match with a 25-20 win in the final set.
Junior Kylie Pickrell recorded 15 assists and Kearney had two service aces to lead the Pack in the final set. Kearney and Bailey also both had three kills, while Harris tallied five more digs.
“I credit so much of that to our blocking,” Harris said. “We had such a good relationship talking between defense and our front row and just making sure we were in a place where I could see the hitter and everything.”
The Wolfpack will travel to Louisville for another ACC matchup on Friday.
