When coach Bryan Bunn came to Raleigh, few Wolfpack volleyball fans could have expected him to turn around the program around on a dime. This weekend showed that he is on track to doing just that.
The volleyball team left little doubt this weekend which team was the best at the Hilton RTP Invitational this year, going 3-0 in its first home appearance of the season.
“Winning is always better than losing,” Bunn said. “It’s something that the program hasn’t experienced in a while so it’s something that the girls are very excited about what we’re doing.”
The team started out the tournament on Friday with a 3-1 win over Georgia Southern. They followed up that performance with a 3-0 victory Saturday morning over Mercer and finished its weekend off with a 3-0 win over Morehead State in the nightcap to bring its overall record to 8-1.
Much of the team’s success in the final game of the tournament came from an area the Pack has found itself much improved in—blocking.
The Wolfpack out-blocked the Eagles of Morehead State 9-2, led by junior middle blocker Margaret Salata. Salata, who had one unassisted block and five block assists, attributes the improvement to new assistant coach Pete Hoyer.
“Pete Hoyer, he knows how to teach how to block,” Salata said. “If you’re not clicking with him on how he’s saying something, he tries it another way. He doesn’t give up on you ever.”
The Wolfpack also benefitted from a trio of outstanding transfers making their debut in front of Wolfpack Nation—junior outside hitter Luciana Shafer, redshirt sophomore setter Megan Cyr and junior outside hitter Becah Fogle.
Shafer, a UNC-Greensboro transfer, led the team with 11 digs while also helping the Pack’s offense with 10 kills.
“[Luciana is] really embracing what we’re teaching her,” Bunn said. “It’s a change from what she’s done in the past and anytime you do something new, there’s some adjustment but she’s making great adjustments.”
Shafer said the adjustments have been a challenge, but the support around her has allowed her to become better.
“It’s been different,” Shafer said. “I’m definitely getting a lot of feedback, positive feedback of course, but at the same time there’s always the challenge of having those bad games where you’re still figuring things out and I feel like tonight was one of those nights where it kind of clicked so it was a good feeling to be like, ‘Oh, that’s what they were talking about.'”
Cyr, a University of Colorado transfer, led the team in every game of the tournament, including 41 in the final match.
“Megan Cyr did a great job distributing it,” Bunn said. “They had no idea where she was going to set it, so we had a lot of seams and everybody was locked in tonight.”
Fogle, also a University of Colorado transfer, earned tournament MVP honors for her efforts, grabbing a team high 13 kills in the nightcap.
“[Becah is] really embracing the things that we’re doing here,” Bunn said. “And you can just tell the difference between how she’s playing now compared to three weeks ago in terms of how she’s fitting in with what we’re doing.”
Fogle said the improvement comes from having a loving atmosphere in the locker room.
“I can’t tell you how good it feels to be on a team that’s so supportive,” Fogle said. “I can feel the love. To come from a team where you don’t get that that much from the coaches, you don’t get that positive feedback, to have it all around you all the time, that’s what lifts you up.”
The team will play in one final tournament this weekend at UNC-Wilmington before returning home to open ACC play against North Carolina.
“People support winners,” Bunn said. “When you start winning, people come out to support you and the Wolfpack fans are great. I know they’re excited to have a team that’s going to be competitive.”