The N.C. State volleyball team that participated in an informal spring tournament at Duke on Saturday was a different group than the team that took the court in the team’s last official contest in November.

“November was so long ago, I can’t really remember, and I think part of me doesn’t want to remember it,” coach Charita Stubbs said. “But the kids look like they’ve gotten their passion back, and things are clicking for them.”

Two seniors — Melissa Rabe and Lyssa Ramirez — have exhausted there eligibility, though Ramirez was in the small crowd at the event.

Four additional players, two walk-ons and two scholarship players, are no longer with the team. Walk-ons Jessica Chew and Victoria Bryant simply decided not to continue with the team, while rising junior Jessica Williams is no longer with the team by coach Charita Stubbs’ decision.

Rising junior Kelley Blakewood transferred to Elon in hopes of having a bigger role on a team.

The departures have made for changes in the remaining players’ roles, with rising sophomore Chrissy Zirpolo moving to right outside hitter, sophomore-to-be Keri DeMar gaining playing time on the left side and rising senior Kasey Rhyne earning more court time as the team’s libero.

Stubbs said repetition is the key for those players in different roles, and thinks they’ll be fine when the season starts in the fall.

“The more you get to play, the easier it becomes,” Stubbs said. “So it’s only going to be something that’s advantageous for us.”

Meanwhile, DeMar said she’s becoming more in-tune with the team. “Last year I was really uncomfortable because I’d only been playing for two years, so I really didn’t know what I was doing. So I feel like as practice goes on, I’m getting more comfortable,” DeMar said. “I’m understanding the game more, so I’m just becoming more confident in myself.”

And Rhyne, who Stubbs has pushed to become a more vocal leader, has started to do so. Rhyne said she thought in the past that she was loud enough and had a good enough presence on the court, but now she sees what her coach was talking about.

“I felt like I was [loud enough and had good presence],” Rhyne said. “But now it’s like I’m realizing what I need to do, what my teammates need to hear.”

On Saturday the new-look group played four two-game contests, splitting two games with Duke, dropping two against Wake, sweeping two from Gardner-Webb and splitting two against Charlotte.

The team had dropped two matches by 3-0 scores to Duke in the 2006 season and one by the same tally against Charlotte. Even players from those teams said there’s a difference in State only a few months after last season ended.

“They’ve gotten a lot better, they’re harder to compete against,” Duke’s Jourdan Norman said. “And they’re much more crisp in their rotations.”

Charlotte’s Cori Dayton said she saw a State team playing much more together than when the 49ers beat the Pack 3-0 last August.

“They played more cohesive together,” Dayton said. “It wasn’t so spastic [as last season].”

Rhyne said she and her teammates are trusting each other more than they have in the past. She also said the team has been able to improve in spring practice by working on things it wasn’t able to work on in the short pre-season in the fall.

“We’re doing the right things this semester to get better and better each day,” Rhyne said. “I think we’re helping each other because we’re able to keep each other accountable for what our roles [are] on the team.”