Continuing an already historic year for NC State sports, the Wolfpack volleyball team will be making its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2012 this Friday when it takes on Oregon State in the first round in Austin, Texas.
With the Pack’s (20-11, 15-5 ACC) entry into the big dance and football bowl eligible, every fall sport at NC State will have made an appearance in the postseason for the first time in school history when the calendar year draws to a close. NC State joins Stanford as the only Division I schools to accomplish the feat this season.
This marks the second-straight season that the Wolfpack volleyball team has reached the 20-win mark, and its 15 ACC victories are the most in school history. The Pack will travel to the University of Texas-hosted regional in Austin, where it will meet the Badgers (21-11) of Oregon State in its first match.
NC State was propelled by phenomenal play at home in Reynolds Coliseum this year, not losing an ACC match in the building. Senior outside hitter Julia Brown and graduate student outside hitter Bree Bailey led the way on the attacking front for the Pack all season, with Brown tallying a team-leading 443 kills and Bailey right behind her with 321.
Facilitating the offensive game for State has been junior setter Kylie Pickrell, whose team-high 1,210 assists were the most in the ACC this year.
Defensively for the Pack, Brown and senior defensive specialist and libero Emily Harris both recorded 298 digs to lead the way, with Pickrell close behind with 277, and senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Kearney’s 152 blocks were the third most in the ACC.
Oregon State went 11-9 in the Pac-12 Conference this season, and enters the NCAA Tournament coming off back-to-back home losses, to UCLA and Oregon, to close out the season. OSU will be making its first tournament appearance since it went on a run to the Sweet 16 in 2014.
Outside hitter Mary-Kate Marshall paces the Beavers attack, as the senior led the Pac-12 in kills this season with 506, and was second in kills per set with 4.36. Alongside Marshall, outside hitter Maddie Goings recorded 313 kills on the season.
Setting things up for the Beavers offense all season was Kylee McLaughlin, who recorded over 10 assists per set to lead the team.
Defensively, defensive specialists and liberos Grace Massey and Kayla Ellis were key for the Beavers, as Massey’s 3.48 digs per set led the squad followed by Ellis’s mark of 3.25 digs per set. At the net, Maddy Gravley’s 113 blocks paced the team.
The match on Friday will be the first ever meeting between the Wolfpack and the Beavers, and will be the first tournament win in quite some time for either team. The winner will move on to take on either sixth-seeded Texas or Fairmont Saturday night.
