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VIDEO: NC State Defeats UNC in Volleyball 3-2!

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RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State volleyball team put together one of its most complete efforts this season to earn a five-set (3-2: 25-21, 25-17, 21-25, 18-25, 15-11) victory against the preseason favorite and defending Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Champion UNC-Chapel Hill Friday night inside Reynolds Coliseum.

The Wolfpack cruised to a 2-0 lead in the match, but the Tar Heels countered to even the match and force a decisive fifth set. In the fifth set, NC State raced out to a 3-0 lead and never trailed en route to the five-set victory.

NC State moves to 6-6 on the year and 1-0 in ACC play, while UNC-Chapel Hill falls to 3-6 and 0-1 in conference action.

Maybe the support of the NC State Swimming/Diving team in their speedos was a good luck charm…

 

Worth Noting

– The Wolfpack’s win snaps a streak of nine consecutive victories in the series by the Tar Heels, as NC State had not beaten UNC-CH since Sept. 14, 2012.

– NC State opens league action with a win for the first time since 2014 when the Wolfpack defeated Syracuse.

– Freshman Melissa Evans notched her third 20-kill performance of the season in the first ACC match of her young career.

– Senior Julia Brown also reached 20 kills and tallied 15 digs to record her fifth double-double of the year.

Match Rewind

– Both teams started the match strong, as it was even early until Teni Sopitan swatted a kill to give NC State a 7-6 lead and the Wolfpack led the first set from that point.

– A 6-1 run extended the NC State lead to 12-7 and a kill by Bree Bailey forced a UNC timeout at 15-10.

– The Tar Heels made a late comeback, but the Pack won the opening frame, 25-21, highlighted by a .452 team attacking percentage.

– In the second set, NCSU raced out to a 4-1 lead following a service ace from Grace Irvin.

– Three unanswered points helped the Wolfpack grab a 16-9 advantage, forcing a timeout by the Tar Heels.

– Evans capped the set with a kill from the right side to give NC State a 2-0 lead in the match with the 25-17 second-set win.

– The Wolfpack owned a .444 attacking percentage after the first two sets, thanks to a .438 clip in the second frame.

– The third set was tightly contested, as there were six ties in the frame. With the score knotted at 16, UNC won five of the next six points to take a 21-17 lead and NC State was unable to recover.

– The Tar Heels started to get into a rhythm in the fourth set and won the frame, 25-18, to force a decisive fifth set.

– In the final frame, NCSU jumped out to a 3-0 advantage following a UNC attacking error, kill by Brown and a block assist from Melissa Evans and Kaitlyn Kearney.

– Four consecutive points helped the Wolfpack gain control of the set at 8-2 after a block from Kearney and Kylie Pickrell.

– Brown gave NC State match point at 14-9 and finished it off a few rallies later to lift the Wolfpack to the five-set victory.

Top Performers

– Brown and Evans each tallied a match-high 20 kills in the contest, as Evans recorded a team-high .429 attacking percentage.

– Bailey put down eight kills and Kearney had seven and did not commit an error.

– At setter, Pickrell led all players with a season-high 55 assists to go along with seven digs and five blocks.

– Defensively, Brown paced the group with 15 digs to record her fifth double-double of the season. Emily Harris also pitched in with a season-high 13 digs.

Up Next

NC State returns to action at home Sunday afternoon when Notre Dame visits Reynolds Coliseum. First serve is slated for 1 p.m.

Quoting Hampton-Keith

Overall thoughts…

“Clearly, we’re very excited and happy about the outcome of that match,” said head coach Linda Hampton-Keith. “I don’t even know if the gravity has even hit me yet in terms of really changing the course of some history. Our seniors had never beaten North Carolina before, so that’s really exciting. To do that now – at the front-end of conference [play] – is really confidence-building for sure.”

On the crowd…

“First and foremost, the crowd was huge and awesome. Obviously, a home-court advantage is having that crowd and having that energy in the building. When a play is good on our side, it’s like, really good because the crowd is involved and they’re invested in it. That’s always fun and exciting, to play in that kind of environment. We’re just so thrilled, and hopefully everyone keeps coming back. Hopefully we have that kind of crowd every night. I hope what they saw was a really exciting, fast-paced match – regardless of who our opponent was – and that our team was just fun to watch.

On the fifth-set adjustments…

“In the fifth set, we made a few small changes, but more importantly we just talked about executing each play as it came, and staying with the mission. You know, focus on the mission at hand. I thought our team did a really good job responding when, they could’ve caved. They didn’t have to keeping fighting, but they did, and that’s really exciting. They’re growing so much through this process, so that was fun. It was fun to see our team respond in a way that was confident and aggressive. We just played one step at a time, then we get the result that we wanted.”

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NC State Falls Out of the Top-10 After Losses to UNC & Duke

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After losing to rivals UNC and Duke last week, the NC State Women’s Basketball team fell out of the Top-10 in the Week 17 AP Poll, landing at #12. NC State started the 2023-24 season unranked, but jumped to #14 in the first Poll after the Preseason Poll. The Wolfpack have been ranked in the Top-10 since November 20th, which equals 14 straight polls.

ACC Teams in the Top-25

5. Virginia Tech
12. NC State
17. Notre Dame
19. Syracuse
22. Louisville
27. Duke
29. UNC
30. FSU

The Wolfpack will host #19 Syracuse on Thursday night at 7pm.

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NC State’s Week 1 Depth Chart Against UCONN (with Notes)

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NC State will kick off their 2023 Football season next Thursday night against UCONN at 7:30pm. The Wolfpack released their Depth Chart for the game today.

Image

Notes

  • Redshirt Sophomore Anthony Carter Jr. is listed as the starting Left Guard. If Redshirt Sophomore Lyndon Cooper wasn’t missing the first game due to injury, I wonder if Carter would be starting. Doeren did praise Carter in his press conference today. Also, he stated that Cooper should be back for the Notre Dame game.
  • Noticeably, Graduate Transfer Offensive Lineman Dawson Jaramillo is also missing from the Depth Chart. Unfortunately, Jaramillo has suffered an injury, and will miss the entirety of the 2023 season. This is a huge blow for Jaramillo, and a huge blow for the depth of the Wolfpack Offensive Line. Jaramillo was a Swiss Army knife, having the ability to play in numerous positions.
  • Very often, Doeren has stated that the “Or” in between two names means that the coaching staff sees both players as starters. There is an “Or” in between Chris Toudle and Trent Pennix at Tight End, with the former being listed first. Maybe it doesn’t matter whose name is listed first, but I’m shocked Pennix’s name wasn’t the one at the top.
  • I’m not shocked that Julian Gray and Keyon Lesane are listed as the starters at the X and Y Wide Receiver positions. They both have had a lot of buzz surrounding them in Fall Camp, and Lesane was named a captain. Obviously, with Gray’s speed, Offensive Coordinator Robert Anae is going to want to find a way to get the ball in his hands. With that being said, and this is no disrespect to the two of them, but both of them are 5’11”, which isn’t exactly the way you would sculpt your prototypical outside receivers. I expect Terrell Timmons and Bradley Rozner to both be heavily in rotation at the X and Y, to give the outside receivers a good dose of speed as well as height.
  • True Freshman Running Back Kendrick Raphael might be buried at the bottom of the Depth Chart at his position, but I bet he sees a carry before Mimms or Jones. Doeren mentioned that we would see Raphael against UCONN, but didn’t mention Jones or Mimms. Anae likes to run 2 Running Back sets, with one of them almost functioning like a Full Back. As a result, I’m not shocked to see Jones and Mimms where they are in the Depth Chart.
  • Props to True Freshman Kevin Concepcion for earning the starting job at the Inside Wide Receiver position. Get ready to hear his name a lot this year. KC is backed up by Redshirt Sophomore Jalen Coit, who Doeren spoke highly of today.
  • Junior Porter Rooks is no longer sitting behind Thayer Thomas on the Depth Chart. Doeren said that Rooks has had a great camp. The former 4-Star prospect has an opportunity to show that those stars meant something by his name. With that being said, he will be pushed by True Freshman Javonte “Juice” Vereen, who even has national media buzzing about him heading into the season.
  • Three True Freshman are on the Offensive Depth Chart: Left Guard Kamen Smith, IWR Kevin Concepcion and FLEXY Juice Vereen.
  • True Freshman Kamal Bonner is 2nd on the Depth Chart at the Will Linebacker spot, backing up Payton Wilson. What’s noteworthy, is that he’s ahead of former 4-Star prospect Jordan Poole in the Depth Chart. Bonner must have made a heck of a first impression.
  • As expected, ODU Graduate Transfer Robert Kennedy is starting at Nickel.
  • True Freshman Brandon Cisse is backing up Aydan White at Right Corner, and Doeren said we should expect him to contribute.
  • Redshirt Sophomore Jalen Coit will be filling in the shoes of Thayer Thomas at Punt Returner.

 

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Elliot Avent is interviewed on MLB Network about rule changes and Wolfpack Alums

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Elliot Avent gave a great interview on MLB Network.

Avent talks about the rules changes in baseball and doesn’t seem too pleaseed about them, while also breaking some news that they might be naming the hitting facility after Trea Turner and the Pitching lab after Carlos Rodon.

Give it a watch.

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Mady Traore Will No Longer Enroll at NC State

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This unfortunately seemed inevitable.

According to 247Sports’ Travis Branham, 3-Star Mady Traore is no longer planning on enrolling at NC State.

Traore was a member of the Wolfpack’s 2022 recruiting class, but wasn’t able to enroll in the Fall because of Visa issues and the English Competency Test.

Back on November 29th, I posted the following article, saying that Traore was set to join the team for the 2nd semester. Traore himself told me when I posted it, that he was expecting to join the team in December.

I received the intel 2 weeks prior to posting, and prior to things beginning to brew between NC State and Isaiah Miranda. In hindsight, I wish I would have posted it when I got the intel (haha).

4-Star Mady Traore Expected to Suit up for NC State Soon

Obviously, that didn’t happen, and isn’t happening.

When I posted the article, things were in flux, because there was one scholarship available. If Miranda came, he was going to get the scholarship, and the staff was hoping Traore would be willing to wait and enroll in April. If Miranda didn’t come, then the expectation was for Traore to join the team in December, in the way that Miranda just did.

I still believe my source’s info was solid, and there are always a lot of moving pieces in play that can change scenarios quickly.

From what I hear, the staff was genuinely hopeful they could add Miranda in December, and Traore in April, but it didn’t work out that way, and that’s the way it goes sometimes.

We wish you the best Mady! You’ve got a special future in basketball.

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