NC State Volleyball Rallies for Five-Set Win Against Arkansas

NC State earns its third five-set win of the season, while Arkansas was denied its first five-set victory of the year. The Wolfpack’s win also snapped the Razorbacks three-match win streak.

Third-year Wolfpack head coach Linda Hampton-Keith led her team to victory in a matchup that pitted her against her former head coach Jason Watson, whom she served as an assistant coach for five seasons at Arizona State prior to taking over the program at NC State.

The Pack moves to 6-3 on the year, while the Razorbacks fall to 6-3.

Worth Noting

– Friday’s matchup was the third meeting between the programs, as NC State now leads the all-time series 2-1.

– The Wolfpack’s 12 blocks in the contest are the most this season, eclipsing the previous high of nine accomplished three times.

– NC State is undefeated on the year at 5-0 when recording a higher attacking percentage than its opponent (.231-.181).

Quoting Hampton-Keith

Overall thoughts…

“I’m really proud of our team and how we played today,” said Hampton-Keith. “We knew we would have to play clean and so I’m proud of how we were able to ride the wave of a five-set match, stay focused and execute down the stretch. We worked all week on certain things to prepare for this weekend, so it’s a joy as a coach when you see the work your staff has put in come to fruition on the court.”

On playing against former head coach Jason Watson…

“We of course talked before the match and said this was awesome, but also kind of sucked because we knew there would be an outcome one of us didn’t like. I think when you have the tremendous amount of respect as we do for each other it can bring some mixed emotions. It was a fun and exciting match to be a part of.”

Match Rewind

– Arkansas opened the match strong, as the Razorbacks raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first set.

– NC State battled to narrow the deficit to 11-9 after a kill from Keira Moore and rallied again to cut the Arkansas lead to 21-18 thanks to a service ace from Makenzie Kuchmaner to force a timeout.

– Unfortunately, the Razorbacks countered to win four of the next five rallies to take a 1-0 lead in the match with the 25-19 first-set victory.

– NC State evened the match at one set apiece with a 25-22 win in the second set after tallying a .455 team attacking percentage with 16 kills in the frame.

– The Pack jumped out to an 11-6 lead in the set after a kill from Teni Sopitan to force an Arkansas timeout.

– The Razorbacks rallied to narrow the NC State lead to 22-20, but the Wolfpack held on for the set win to even the match.

– There were no lead changes or ties in the first two sets, as both teams led from start to finish.

– Arkansas put together a strong third set to take a 2-1 lead in the match, as the Razorbacks grabbed control of the frame with a 9-1 run en route to the 25-17 set win.

– In the fourth set, NC State raced out to a 6-1 lead following a solo block from Moore and never looked back.

– The Wolfpack struck first in the fifth set and did not relinquish the lead although there were five ties.

– After Arkansas knotted the set at 10-10, Sopitan delivered a kill for the Wolfpack to put the squad ahead by one and after a kill by the Razorbacks and then a service error, another kill from Sopitan followed to push the advantage to 13-11.

– Melissa Evans gave the Wolfpack match point with a kill from the pin and an attacking error by Arkansas gave NC State the 15-13 fifth-set win and 3-2 victory in the match.

Top Performers

– Sopitan led all players in the match with 17 kills and also recorded a .286 attacking percentage.

– Evans tallied 13 kills, while Moore put down 11 to go along with a .444 attacking percentage.

– Lauryn Terry logged nine kills on 14 swings and did not commit an error to chart a .643 attacking percentage.

– At setter, Kylie Pickrell handed out a match-high 52 assists and collected nine digs to finish one shy of a double-double.

– Defensively, Kuchmaner led the way with 20 digs and defensive specialist Grace Irvin pitched in with eight.

– Terry also registered seven blocks to lead all players in the contest.

Up Next

NC State returns to action Saturday afternoon when the Wolfpack takes on Georgia, a team receiving votes for the top-25 polls. First serve is slated for 1 p.m. inside O’Keefe Gym.