On Friday, the volleyball team traveled to Chapel Hill for its ACC opener against arch-rival North Carolina, who N.C. State has not beaten since 1997.
Both teams entered the contest with mirroring 2-7 records. State had lost three of its last four and North Carolina had just snapped out of its own seven-game funk.
A hostile environment greeted the youthful Wolfpack as 10 newcomers attended their first road conference game.
“I think they were fine, they were completely oblivious to the crowd which is also a sign of a young team, because a more experienced team would listen to what the crowd was saying — our kids never had a clue,” coach Charita Stubbs said.
For the most part, State struggled to overcome the height of the Carolina front line, where none of the starters are under 6 feet tall. The Heels finished with 22 blocks and held the Pack to a .071 attack percentage.
“We have to do a better job of understanding what’s available blocking-wise, knowing when an option isn’t open to do something else,” sophomore middle blocker Aiwane Iboaya said.
State dropped the first game 30-22, as freshman outside hitter Chrissy Zirpolo’s attack sailed out of bounds. Zirpolo found the Carolina blockers too much to deal with as her attack percentage for the game finished in the negative numbers.
“They did have a tall front row but we should have been able to hit around them, they were big but that doesn’t mean exactly that they were very good blockers,” Zirpolo said.
The second period saw eight lead changes before Amy Beaver, a returning All-ACC performer, scored four straight points for the Heels toward the end of the set to give her team the win 30-27.
“She’s really effective on her slide, she has good awareness of the court and as well as the blockers,” Iboaya said.
Stubbs was critical of the attitude displayed by her team during the third game in which Carolina never trailed and won 30-15 to clinch the match.
“I don’t think we showed up at all in game three — people became more internal, became selfish as players and looked more to people to do their job versus them stepping up to the plate, which is ideal when you’re a young team,” Stubbs said.
Even when State was placing shots where they wanted, Carolina forced play to continue as three Carolina players had double-digit digs.
State finished with 26 errors, which Stubbs said the team still needed to improve.
“Attacking errors are going to constantly plague us until we can understand what line of attack to take,” Stubbs said. “It’s something that we’re working on everyday and it’s something we’re going to have to continue to work on.”
Reflecting back on earlier tournaments played away from home, Stubbs added her team had improved from then to now.
“We’re night and day, we’re a completely different team. Still plagued by a lot of the same ailments — the confidence, the people stepping up, the attacking errors and stuff like that,” Stubbs said. “But when we make a mistake now, it’s an aggressive mistake meaning we know why we did that.”
State’s loss moves them to 2-8 (0-1). The two teams will meet again in Raleigh Nov. 7.
