Pack Volleyball Look to Bounce Back in ACC Play

RALEIGH – The NC State Volleyball team took on the Virginia Cavaliers in an ACC matchup at Reynolds Coliseum. The team returns home after a tough four-game road stretch.  During this away stint the ladies only managed to get one win over Virginia Tech, falling to Chapel Hill (1-3), Florida (0-3), and Miami (1-3). The Wolfpack come into this game in the middle of the pack of the ACC standings, with an 8-8 overall record and a 2-4 ACC record. The Virginia team comes into this game last place in ACC with a 1-5 record. The Wolfpack look to repeat the result last year against Virginia, where they won 3-0.

The Wolfpack started off poorly with a double tap infraction called on the first point. After being down 2-0 early in the first set the Wolfpack came back to take the lead. Virginia then went on to score six unanswered points to take an 11-6 lead in the first set, which warranted an NC State time out. A nice kill and ace by #3 Alyssa Evans started a comeback in the first set for NC State. This was not enough as Virginia took the first set 25-19.

The Wolfpack and Virginia were just trading points early in the second set, it seemed like no one could get an early lead. The ladies rallied to take a 10-6 lead and a challenge on a tipped ball call gave them an 11-6 lead. #4 Kylie Pickrell had a great set and ace that helped the pack win set 2. In the third set the Wolfpack got off to an early lead and they never looked back. This lead to a comfortable win in set 3 for NC State.

In the fourth set, the Cavaliers got out to an early lead. #30 Teni Sopitan came up being in the fourth set with a couple of nice kills and blocks. In the middle of the fourth set, they started to run away with it. They scored 8 unanswered points to take a 17-8 lead. They finished out the fourth set 25-16 and got the win against Virginia.

The Wolfpack looked impressive in this win and this win provided coach Linda Hampton-Keith with her 50th career win. The Wolfpack look to get another win as they take on #6 Pitt on Sunday, October 14, 2018 at Reynolds Coliseum.