North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Volleyball: 2000 ACC Tournament Notebook
11/15/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
NC State begins play on Thursday (Nov. 16) in the 2000 Atlantic Coast Conference Volleyball Tournament at Wake Forest University's Reynolds Gym with a 7:30 p.m. match vs. top-seeded Georgia Tech. With an upset against the Yellow Jackets, the Wolfpack will advance to a semifinal-round matchup on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. against the winner of Friday';s Duke-Florida State match.
This season's ACC Tournament matchup between the Wolfpack and Yellow Jackets is the first since a first-round pairing in 1994, won by Tech in three games, 15-4, 15-11 and 15-9.
NC State defeated Georgia Tech twice a year ago, both in five games. The Pack won 8-15, 15-5, 15-13, 11-15 and 18-16 in Atlanta on October 8. Tech came to Reynolds coliseum on October 22, and the Wolfpack again prevailed in five games, 15-10, 7-15, 10-15, 15-6 and 15-11.
Overall, NC State is 21-19 in ACC Tournament play, including a 73-67 composite game total. The Wolfpack has reached the semifinals 10 times and the finals once, winning the championship in 1987.
This past Monday, East Carolina hit just .083 against the Wolfpack, the lowest hitting percentage by an NC State opponent this season. Fifteen NC State opponents have hit less than .200 this season, including four of the last five and five of the last seven. The Wolfpack's last seven opponents have combined to hit just .181 (358 kills, 173 errors, 1024 total attempts), compared to a season average of .205.
NC State's defense clearly has played a part in its opponents' poor hitting. In the last five matches, the Wolfpack has registered 52.5 blocks (10.5 per match), including 71 block assists, for the best five-match total since recording 53.5 blocks in five early-season tournament matches from September 2-9.
Kreager, from Ligonier, Ind., has been exceptional the last two-plus weeks of the season. In her last six matches she has hit .279. In her last four matches she has hit .330, and for the season she has hit better than .300 in 13 matches, with three matches over the .400 plateau.
Hitting percentage is just one facet of Kreager's overall game, however. During the last six matches, she has also registered double figures in digs four times and totaled 68 digs in all, and has recorded 28 total blocks.
Kreager has had double figures in kills and digs 13 times this season. She has had double figures in kills and digs in the same match 10 times.
Arguably NC State's most consistent and fundamentally sound player, Kreager began the season by being named to the all-tournament team at the Virginia Tech Invitational, where she had 51 kills and a .339 hitting percentage in four matches in the tournament. She had nine kills and just two errors in 19 attempts for a .368 percentage in the Wolfpack's four-game win over Marshall, equalling her career high with four service aces in that match.
Kreager was a repeat all-tournament winner the following week at the Wolfpack's own NC State Invitational, and was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Stephanie Stambaugh and Meredith Price. Kreager earned her spot on the all-tournament team with 43 kills and a .245 percentage in four matches. She had her top statistical match of the season on September 8 vs. Rice with 13 kills, a .391 percentage, five blocks and a season-high 15 digs.
Williams, from Columbia, S.C., also ranked second on the Wolfpack with 310 digs, also among the league leaders, and reached double figures in digs 15 times.
Heading into play this weekend in the ACC Tournament, Williams had 1,225 career kills, ranking her sixth all-time in the NC State record books.
Price, from Ellicott City, Md., was rock steady for the Wolfpack from start to finish in the NC State Invitational the weekend of September 8-9, nailing 25 kills with just four errors in 50 attempts for a .420 percentage. She also had 40 kills, including 17 in the win over Campbell, three setting assists and three service aces.
Price made it back-to-back all-tournament honors September 15-16 with a standout performance at the rugged American University Classic. The Wolfpack's three opponents in the AU tournament entered play that weekend with a combined 26-7 record, and against that level of comeptition, Price had 15 kills, a .387 hitting percentage, 10 setting assists, one service ace, and 16 defensive digs.
Stambaugh's 24-kill outing against Campbell came in the finale of NC State Invitational and earned her a spot on the all-tournament team. She made just three hitting errors in that match for a .600 percentage, which is a season high for the team. For the four matches in the NC State Invitational, Stambaugh had 55 kills and a .333 hitting percentage in 120 chances.
Circumstances dictated otherwise, however, and Shannon, from the prestigious program at Berkeley Prep School in Odessa, Fla., has been the starter for the Wolfpack in 27 of 30 matches this season.
Freshmen figure to have their ups and downs, especially at a critical position such as setter, and Shannon has been no different. She finished the regular season on a strong note, however.
For the season, Shannon has averaged 11.14 assists per game, with 1,225 in 110 games. In matches against Clemson and East Carolina the final weekend of the season, though, she totaled 114 assists in eight games, an average of 14.25 assists per game.
In addition, in those two matches, Shannon had eight kills and just two hitting errors in 14 attempts for a .429 hitting percentage, and had 11 and 12 digs, respectively, in the the two matches.
Shannon will finish her freshman season ranked seventh in school history in career assists, and needs 101 assists this weekend to crack the school's single-season assists list.
In fact, four of the Pack's first 11 opponents -- Southwest Texas State, Radford, George Washington and American -- all have winning percentages better than .800. combined, they are a combined 102-18, an .850 winning percentage. Southwest Texas State, George Washington and American all rank in the national top 20 in overall winning percentage.
On top of that, three of NC State's ACC opponents -- Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Wake Forest -- have winning percentages better than .700. Add it all together and the Wolfpack played 10 matches this season against teams with a combined won-lost record of 167-39, an .811 winning percentage.
