The NC State volleyball team got a big 3-1 win over the Georgia Bulldogs in the first night of the ACC-SEC Challenge on Thursday, Sept. 16 at Reynolds Coliseum.
The Wolfpack (6-4) lost the first set against the Bulldogs (4-6) and overcame a 22-14 deficit to win an epic second set 31-29, winning two more tightly contested sets to clinch the match.
“I’m proud of our group, the way they came back, they clawed their way out of gutters and pulled out a win,” said head coach Luka Slabe. “Every win right now, it’s good for this squad.”
Sloppy play defined the first set for the Pack as it committed nine attack errors, including the final four points of the set to give the Bulldogs a 25-16 win and a 1-0 match lead.
“Early on, we put ourselves in trouble,” Slabe said. “We were taking a bunch of good swings, but the balls were out just a little bit in the first set. That’s why we sunk so deep in the first and second set, taking a lot of swings but just a little bit out.”
It was more of the same in the second set as the Pack committed six errors, finding itself down 22-14 before going on a furious 10-2 run to tie the score 24-24. That brought the crowd inside Reynolds alive for an intense, back-and-forth end to the set, and the Pack was able to pull it out 31-29 to tie up the match score 1-1.
“I just felt like in that moment, no one was really paying attention to the score,” said senior outside hitter Jade Parchment. “We were just kind of playing our hearts out… We just really brought it, and regardless of the fact that we were down by so much, we didn’t give up just because they were ahead.”
The Pack was in control to start the third set, going up 9-4 before the Bulldogs went on a comeback of their own to take the lead 12-11. The Pack was able to retake the lead 16-15 and the two teams went back and forth, finding themselves tied 22-22 before the Pack won the last three points to take the set 25-22 and a 2-1 match lead.
The Bulldogs held the lead for most of the fourth set, but the Pack kept it close the whole time as the lead never grew larger than three. With the score tied 21-21, the Pack won four of the next six points to win another intense set 25-23 and clinch the match 3-1.
Parchment was the star of the game, leading both teams with 23 kills, while freshman setter Maggie Jones led both teams in assists with 50 and graduate opposite hitter Melissa Evans led both teams in digs with 14.
The Pack recovered from a poor-hitting first set to finish with a .225 hitting percentage compared to the Bulldogs’ .214, cementing the big win against an SEC team.
“Good team effort, still we need more consistency from everybody on the court, from our setters, passers, attackers, blocking defense,” Slabe said. “Overall, congratulations to our team, thank you to our fans for coming. It was loud — I cannot imagine what this place is like when it’s sold out.”
The crowd inside Reynolds was electric, especially during the Pack’s epic second-set comeback, bringing back much of the energy that has come to define the legendary arena and which was common in the pre-COVID era.
“It was so fun, especially because the scores were so close,” Parchment said. “The fact that we just kept fighting, and we’re just right there with them the whole time and actually came back and won, that was so fun. By far the most fun game of the season.”
The Pack is back at it again on Friday, Sept. 17 when it hosts Arkansas in the second night of the ACC-SEC doubleheader. The match begins at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
