NC State volleyball lost its first ACC match of the season against Louisville 3-1 Friday night in Reynolds Coliseum. It was the first conference match that NC State has lost at home since 2016.
The Wolfpack (6-5, 0-1 ACC) put up a tough fight against the Cardinals (8-4, 1-0 ACC), but ultimately fell in four sets.The Pack lost the first set 25-19. The Cardinals won the second set as well, 28-26, and gained a 2-0 set advantage and momentum going into the third set. The Pack ended the Cardinals’ reign by winning the third set 25-20. The fourth set was claimed by the Cardinals and with it the match.
“It’s tough because there are no moral victories,” head coach Linda Hampton-Keith said. “I do feel like we learned some stuff tonight and we accomplished some things as we were trying to keep our eyes on the process and we’re getting better and better. The frustrating part is we obviously didn’t get the outcome we wanted but we need to keep our focus on what we need to do to continue to grow.”
The first set started in what appeared to be the Pack’s favor as NC State easily took a quick 2-0 start against the Cardinals. The set went downhill soon, as the Cardinals went on a five-point run to take the lead 7-4.
The Wolfpack fought back and managed to trail by one point after a kill from graduate middle blocker Kiera Moore, 8-7.
The Cardinals pulled away 13-9 through their attacks. The Pack had trouble receiving, as well as a few communication errors, as there were a few collisions on the floor.
The Pack tried to close an ever-growing gap as Moore and senior setter Kylie Pickrell managed to block a Cardinals’ attack. Senior middle blocker Teni Sopitan followed with her own attack, bringing the score to 16-13.
NC State took a timeout while trailing 19-15 to try and win back the set, but it was too late and the Cardinals closed the first set 25-19.
“The first set was ‘we have to wake up,’” sophomore outside hitter Melissa Evans said. “They are a good team. We just got to play up to that and play our game.”
The second set saw the Cardinals pull away with a seven-point run to gain the lead 9-3.
After calling a timeout, the Wolfpack returned to the court and started to pick itself back up by going on a five-point run to tie up the score at 11-11.
In return, the Cardinals called a timeout, but the Pack briefly took the lead before going into a long back-and-forth point battle.
The Cardinals finally broke the close point battle by scoring two consecutive points to put them up 20-18.
The Wolfpack wasn’t going to make it easy though, and quickly engaged in another point tradeoff until a block from Terry and freshman outside hitter Jade Parchment tied up the score at 23-23.
The teams tied up again at 24-24 causing the set to go into overtime, and despite the Pack earning a one-point lead on two occasions , the Cardinals finally scored consecutive points to take the set 28-26.
The third set of the game started off in the Cardinals’ favor, 8-4.
The tables turned when the Wolfpack once again came up from behind, trailing 10-9. The Pack pulled away with the lead 17-14 after a kill from Evans on a ball that was passed back over the net.
The Wolfpack continued to increase its lead, finally winning the set 25-20.
The fourth was the closest set early on, as the teams were tied 5-5. However, the Cardinals racked up some points to pull ahead 9-5.
The Wolfpack steadily made its way back to take the lead 11-10. The lead wouldn’t last long though as the Cardinals easily took it back, going up 15-12.
The Pack struggled to keep itself in the set. The Cardinals met match point at 24-18 before taking the fourth set 25-18.
The Wolfpack’s next opponent will be Notre Dame Sunday in Reynolds Coliseum at 1 p.m.
“They’re a very similar team to us, a very similar system to us,” Hampton-Keith said. “It should be fun.”
