NC State Volleyball Concludes Non-Conference Slate with Loss to Georgia

ATLANTA – Despite receiving a match-high 16 kills from senior outside hitter Teni Sopitan, the NC State volleyball team fell in straight sets against Georgia, 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-21), in the ACC-SEC Challenge Saturday afternoon inside O’Keefe Gym to wrap-up its non-conference slate.

The Bulldogs own a 9-2 record on the year and are receiving 22 votes in this week’s American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Poll, just three spots shy of the top 25 at No. 28. NC State heads into ACC play with a 6-4 overall record.

Georgia had a slight 47-46 edge in kills for the match, but the Wolfpack committed 18 attacking errors to just nine for the Bulldogs as each set was determined by less than five points. NC State had a tough time slowing down the powerful Georgia offense, as reigning SEC Offensive Player of the Week T’ara Ceasar put down 15 kills and the Bulldogs recorded a .328 team attacking percentage.

Quoting Hampton-Keith
Overall thoughts…
“The frustrating part about today was that we didn’t necessarily play poorly, we just didn’t execute one phase of the game well enough to win,” said head coach Linda Hampton-Keith. “We acknowledged that our passing wasn’t at a level that allowed us to get our offense rolling the way we wanted to. We played the game well in transition, but we didn’t win the serve / serve receive battle. We’ll get back to work and prepare for conference this week.

“Our highest priority and of the utmost importance, we continue to deal with how we plan to get our student-athletes and staff back to Raleigh safely and how to help our North Carolina community in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence. That takes precedence over anything that took place on the court this weekend.”

Match Rewind
– The first set was tightly contested featuring 12 ties and five lead changes before Georgia earned the two-point win down the stretch.
– After the Bulldogs pulled ahead 22-21, the Wolfpack countered with back-to-back points to take a 23-22 following a service ace from Grace Irvin.
– With the score knotted at 24-24, a pair of costly attacking errors ensued for NC State as Georgia won the opening set, 26-24.
– NC State started strong in the second set, taking a 12-8 lead after consecutive kills from Kylie Pickrell to force a timeout by the Bulldogs.
– The Wolfpack later extended the advantage to 15-10 before a furious comeback by the Bulldogs to grab a 17-15 advantage.
– NCSU battled to narrow the deficit to 23-22 thanks to a kill from Sopitan, but UGA closed out the set with a kill and a block to go up 2-0 in the match.
– The third set was neck-and-neck, as neither team led by more than two points until Georgia took a 21-18 lead after a 3-1 run.
– The Wolfpack had a tough time slowing down the Georgia attack, as the Bulldogs won the frame, 25-21, and the match 3-0.

Top Performers
– In addition to Sopitan’s 16 kills, Lauryn Terry put down nine kills and Melissa Evans contributed eight.
– Pickrell collected 37 assists in addition to six digs, five kills and two blocks.
– Defensively, senior libero Makenzie Kuchmaner logged 15 digs and freshman Jade Parchment tallied eight.

Up Next
NC State will open ACC play in its next action, as the Wolfpack will host Louisville on Sept. 21. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. inside Reynolds Coliseum.