Despite a valiant effort, the NC State volleyball team dropped both matches of Saturday’s doubleheader against Missouri State and No. 8 Kansas.
The Wolfpack (0-3), was unable to squeeze out a win from either of its highly contested five-set matches in Reynold’s Coliseum.
In the first match against Missouri State (2-1), the Wolfpack started strong, winning the first set with 17 kills, a hitting percentage of .389 and just three attack errors. The Pack cruised to a convincing 25-19 win.
However, in the second set, the Wolfpack began to struggle. With a hitting percentage of just .238 and a match-high six errors, Missouri State took the second set by a margin of 25-21.
With the match tied at one set a piece, Missouri State utilized its momentum to take a 2-1 lead. Despite a closely fought battle, that included a match-high 19 kills by the Wolfpack and four lead changes, Missouri State proceeded to take the third set 27-25.
With victory looming for Missouri State, the Wolfpack rose to the occasion and responded during the fourth set, turning in a high hitting percentage of .394. The Wolfpack dominated the third set, winning 25-15.
The Wolfpack was able to force a fifth set and things came down to the wire. Despite recording eight kills in a 15-point set and tallying more blocks than Missouri State, a low hitting percentage proved detrimental for the Pack. Missouri State closed out the set 15-13, winning the match 3-2.
Key players for the Pack during this match were junior Kylie Pickrell, freshman Melissa Evans and senior Julia Brown.
Pickrell achieved a triple-double, garnering 47 assists, 19 digs and 13 kills. Meanwhile, Evans led the team with a solid 20 kills and a .400 attacking percentage. Additionally, Brown was second on the team behind Evans with 17 kills.
In the Wolfpack’s second match against No. 8 Kansas (3-0),the Pack again started off strong and utilized the energy from the home crowd. The Pack went on a late 6-1 run in the first set to take a 22-20 lead. With a hit percentage of .387, the Pack held on to take the first set by a margin of 28-26.
In the second set of the match, Kansas promptly responded. Taking advantage of the Wolfpack’s .152 hitting percentage, the Jayhawks put up a surge that the Pack could not answer and won the second set, 25-17.
Kansas maintained this pressure deep into the third set, leading to a 15-12 Jayhawk lead. However, the Pack proceeded to win eight of the next 10 points and closed the set out to win 25-22, taking a 2-1 lead on the match.
While the Pack seemed poised to pull off a huge upset, the Jayhawks had other ideas. With a strong .412 attacking percentage, Kansas was able to take the fourth set 25-17 and force a fifth set.
In the fifth set, the Pack recorded a hit percentage of just .130, its lowest hit percentage of the entire day, while the Jayhawks rose to a .429 hit percentage and proceeded to record 10 kills and only one error. With convincing play Kansas closed the final set out 15-8 and took the match, 3-2.
During this match, Brown once again proved to be valuable to State. Brown led the team with 20 kills and Evans tallied 16 of her own. Pickrell recorded 35 assists, 11 digs and four kills, while redshirt sophomore Makenzie Kuchmaner achieved a career high 21 digs.
The Wolfpack will travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico for the SEC-ACC challenge Sept. 2-3, facing off against No. 12 Florida and Auburn.
