North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
Virginia Tech
NC State Defeats Virginia Tech in Five Games
9/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 6, 2003
It took five games, but the NC State volleyball team grabbed a 3-2 victory over Virginia Tech in the final match of the Outback Wolfpack Classic Saturday night at Reynolds Coliseum. The win clinched second place in the tournament for the Wolfpack, while putting them at 4-3 overall on the season, one win better than last year's win total. Texas Christian (5-1) finished the tournament undefeated to take first place, while the Hokies (4-3) finished third and High Point (0-8) fourth.
Highlighting the All-Tournament team for the Wolfpack were freshman outside hitter Julia Reis and junior middle blocker Sarah Ensminger. Also being selected were outside hitter Dominika Szabo and right side Ellen Rehme of TCU, outside hitter Annie Spicer of Virginia Tech and Panther outside hitter Lindsey Pickens.
NC State began dominating its match with the Hokies straight out of the gates, easily taking games one and two by the scores of 30-26 and 31-29. But Virginia Tech wouldn't go away quietly, erasing any chance for the Wolfpack to sweep them away. Led by Spicer and middle hitter Katie Esbrook, the Hokies would rally back to defeat NC State 30-23 in game three and then 30-13 in game four to knot the match at two games a piece.
Despite losing two straight, the Wolfpack pulled together and played strong on both sides of the net to take an early lead in game five. Virginia Tech would come back, however, and continue to hang, as the two teams engaged in a see-saw battle. But in the end, NC State would prove to be too much for the Hokies, taking the final game by the score of 15-12. Reis led the Wolfpack, finishing with a match-high 20 kills off a .200 attack percentage to go with 13 digs. Ensminger would add 10 kills to go with two total blocks, while senior libero Caroline Frede recorded a match-best 16 digs. The Hokies featured five players in double-digits in the kill column, led by Spicer, who finished with 17 kills and 15 digs. Esbrook added 15 kills, while right side Jenny Hill and middle hitter Allie Kupec each had 11 and outside hitter Erin Brugger totaled 10 kills.
The Wolfpack got off on the right foot in its first match of the day against High Point, taking game one by the score of 30-26. The Panthers would battle back, however, and take game two, 30-21 after finishing with a team hitting percentage of .303 to NC State's .111. After a short intermission, the two teams took to the court once again, this time with the Wolfpack overpowering High Point on both sides of the net. NC State would continue to stay strong as it took games three (30-21) and four (30-17) to move to 3-3 on the season. The Panthers fell to 0-7 on the season.
Reis again led the Wolfpack with a career-best 23 kills off a .396 attack percentage. Middle blocker Maya Mapp also came up big offensively for NC State, finishing with 10 kills and a .208 attack percentage. Crystal Shannon and Frede exhibited true senior leadership as Shannon totaled a match-high 51 assists and Frede notched a match-high in digs with 16. Meanwhile, the Panthers were led by outside hitters Pickens and Kamarsha Ryan, who recorded 16 and 13 kills respectively.
In earlier action on Saturday, Texas Christian won a closely contested four-match decision over Virginia Tech, 30-27, 22-30, 31-29 and 30-27 in the first match of the day. Rehme and Szabo paced the Horned Frogs, who improved to 2-0 in the tournament. Rehme had 19 kills, 15 digs and six blocks, while Szabo had 18 kills, a .342 attack percentage, and 17 digs. For the Hokies, who fell to 1-1 in the tournament, Spicer had 19 kills, but was charged with 20 attack errors and had an attack percentage of -.014. Spicer had 15 digs. Esbrook had 12 kills, five digs and five total blocks.
TCU completed the tournament sweep with a relatively easy three-game sweep of High Point, winning by scores of 30-19, 30-27 and 30-23. The match took just 1:17 to complete. TCU, which improved to 5-1 on the season, was again paced by Rheme, who had 15 kills and just four errors for a .333 percentage, and added seven digs and a pair of blocks. Szabo had nine kills and 12 digs, while Emily Allen had 12 digs. Lindsey Pickens had 13 kills, three digs and three blocks to lead the Panthers, who lost for the eighth time in as many matches this season.
