NC State volleyball set off the season witha 3-2 win against VCU Friday in Reynolds Coliseum. This weekend is an NC State hosted invitational at to start off the season against VCU and Washington State, two quality opponents.
The Wolfpack (1-0) swept the first two sets from the Rams (0-1), 25-21 and 25-15. The Rams kept the Pack’s victory at bay when they were able to snatch the third set 25-21. The Pack’s loss of the third set was largely due to errors, nine from attacks and four from the service line. The Rams took the following set 25-17. The fifth set was cleaned up by the Pack, 15-11, to secure its first victory.
“That’s a huge win against a NCAA Tournament team from last year,” head coach Linda Hampton-Keith said. “That really sets the tone for us and the expectation of where we’re going.”
Senior setter Kylie Pickrell agreed with Hampton-Keith’s statement.
“VCU and WSU are both teams that have played in the tournament,” Pickrell said. “VCU has a really great record, they’ll probably win their conference. This was a big game for us, not just figuring out our side of the net but going against an opponent who has been in the same situations we have, making the tournament and playing high caliber teams all the time.”
The Pack took the first set 25-21 from the Rams, which proved to be a hard battle as the Rams remained close behind the entire set. The Pack scrambled a bit in the very beginning to gain its bearings, but once the team found its rhythm, the set went fairly smoothly with the Pack remaining in the lead with the Rams only getting ahead once at 6-5.
The second set saw a completely different Wolfpack. A more calm and collected Pack that went on its longest run, 7-0, to take the lead 15-7. After a service error from junior defense specialist Grace Irvin, the Rams found their confidence and started to close in on the gap, but the Pack was undeterred, forcing several errors which ended the Rams’ momentum.
The leading scorer was sophomore outside hitter Melissa Evans with 20 points. Trailing closely were senior middle blocker Teni Sopitan and redshirt senior outside hitter Erin Chatman, with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
The Pack reached 20 points first, leaving the Rams struggling nine points behind. The Rams took a timeout and played a safer game upon returning to the court. The Pack quickly wrapped up the set 25-15.
The Rams weren’t ready to go home yet, though, through 20 points the third set was an even 10-10. Outside hitter Vicky Giommarini and middle blocker Tori Baldwin led the way for VCU, propelling them to a 17-12 lead.
Evans’ spike through two blockers helped the Pack trail by only five points. Service errors were a hindrance to the Pack closing the gap but that didn’t stop the Pack’s tenacious fighting to bring it back 22-18.
Sopitan had an attacking error allowing the Rams to reach match point 24-19, but she redeemed herself in the next rally with a kill block. The damage was done though, as the Rams finally took their first set 25-21.
“The third match was pretty close, we could’ve definitely gone 3-0, we just need to execute in the [crucial] moments and pull through,” junior middle blocker Lauryn Terry said.
The fourth set began with a rough start for the Pack as the Rams easily took the lead 9-3. No matter how hard the Pack fought against the score deficit, it wasn’t enough to keep the Rams from increasing the score to 17-8. Hampton-Keith tried calling a timeout to stop the bleeding.
The Pack appeared to catch a break when VCU had a service error and went on a 5-0 run to try and close the gap to 21-15. Despite the effort, it wasn’t enough as the Pack fell to the Rams 25-17.
In the final set of the match, the Wolfpack from the first two sets finally returned, led by Evans. VCU struggled to get into a rhythm, suffering multiple service errors.
The Wolfpack managed to stay in the lead but not before the Rams made their presence known by tying up the score at 10-10. The Pack soon pulled away to end the set 15-11 for a 3-2 win.
“I’m really happy that we were able to pull through,” Terry said. “This just shows all the potential we have for this upcoming season.”
NC State will end the invitational against Washington State Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
