RALEIGH – The NCSU Women’s Volleyball team looks to continue their 7-0 conference winning streak as they take on the Virginia Tech Hokies (Sunday, October 15th , 2017) at Reynolds Coliseum. Although every game is important, today’s game is very special. Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, the team put on a “Pink Out Game” to support Breast Cancer Awareness. The team wore pink jerseys and socks in honor of today’s pink out game, while the fans were also urged to dress in pink, including Mr. and Mrs. Wolf! All Breast Cancer survivors, that attended today’s game, were recognized during the halftime show (that occurred after the second set).
The Hokies are only 1-6 (in conference play) so the Wolfpack is the favored winner of today’s match. Despite losing the first game, in a riveting 26-24 loss, the Wolfpack rallied back in the next two sets, winning them fairly easily with set scores, 25-14 and 25-20. However, at the start of the fourth set, the Hokies seemed to come back to life, coming out hot and getting off to an early 8-3 lead. But the Wolfpack rallied back to tie the game up at 17 all. Thanks to this rally back, the Wolfpack came out on top in the fourth set, and winning the match, 3 sets to 1. Thus, continuing their undefeated (conference) winning streak, and advancing to an 8-0 record, after beating Virginia Tech 3-1; (24-26, 25-14, 25-20, 25-21).
The upperclassmen really showed up for the Wolfpack offense today. Senior (outside hitter) Julia Brown, starts out the Wolfpack lead with two kills; and ending up with a total of 12 kills and 2 assisted blocks, after four sets. Bree Bailey (middle blocker, and the one and only graduate student on the team) had an outstanding game, leading the team with a total of 17 kills and 3 assisted blocks. Teni Sopitan (junior, middle blocker) also showed up today, being the main contributor to kills and blocks in the second and third sets, but after 4 sets, Sopitan acquired 16 kills and 4 block assists.
Due to the fact that the offense was a major impact on today’s Wolfpack win, it made the defense’s job a lot easier. Although the senior libero, Emily Harris had a total of 26 received balls, she only had 14 digs after 4 sets. Even though Harris, being the libero, (the main defensive player) had the most digs in the game, 14 is a low number of digs, for a 4 set match, especially by a libero. (Julia) Brown was the second leading digger of the game, with a total of 10 digs.
The NCSU Women’s Volleyball teams next game will be played on Wednesday, October 18th, a rematch game, against ACC rivals, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Wolfpack women have already played the Tar Heels, back on Friday, September 22nd (at Reynolds Coliseum) and won in a very intense 5 set match (3 sets to 2).