North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Travels To Miami and Florida State This Weekend
10/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 14, 2004
After putting up a good fight and coming so close to winning its first Atlantic Coast Conference match of the season against Virginia Tech Saturday night, the NC State volleyball team now shifts its focus to the upcoming weekend when it faces conference foes Miami and Florida State. The Wolfpack will take on the Hurricanes on Friday night at 7 p.m., and then travel over to Tallahassee for a match against the Seminoles at 1 p.m.
As the story has been all year long, NC State (10-9, 0-6 ACC) enters the weekend as the ACC leader in blocks per game average (3.18). In the Pack's last two matches against the Tar Heels and Hokies, junior middle blocker Stefani Eddins clearly showed why she is a force around the net, finishing with a combined 23 total blocks. Her 12 blocks against North Carolina tied the school record for most blocks in a single conference match, while she also tied the second-most blocks in an ACC match with 11 against Virginia Tech. On the season, Eddins has racked up 120 total blocks, and needs just 31 more to set the all-time school record for most blocks in a single season.
But defense isn't the only thing that NC State has to offer, as two players have already passed over 220 kills. Senior outside hitter Melanie Rowe is coming off a career-best 22-kill performance against the Hokies and leads the team with 227 kills overall, while junior middle blocker Adeola Kosoko is the Pack's leader with a .323 attack percentage to go with 223 kills. In addition, Kosoko only needs 14 more blocks to reach the century mark in that category. Freshman libero Andrea Bentley has been more than scrappy for NC State this year, and features a team-best 209 digs, while fellow freshman, and setter, Lauren Markowski has dished out 709 assists thus far, an average of 10.43 assists a game.
The Hurricanes (8-6, 3-3) are recently coming off a 3-0 sweep of Florida Atlantic Tuesday night, and are led by senior right side Valeria Tipiana offensively. Tipiana leads the team in several categories, including attack percentage (.352), kills (259), and service aces (38). Meanwhile, middle blockers Karla Johnson and Francheska Savage have also stepped up with 195 and 128 kills respectively. On the defensive side of the net, freshman middle blocker Ciara Michel and senior libero Jamie Grass lead the Hurricanes, as Michel is the team's leader in total blocks with 78, while Grass has racked up a team-best 237 digs on the season. Sophomore setter Jill Robinson, who helps anchor Miami's offense, has tallied 728 assists.
As for the Seminoles (10-7, 2-4), they too are coming off a non-conference win over Central Florida, 3-0. Junior left side Kristen Rust leads the attack for FSU with 196 kills, while senior middle blocker Amanda Santos has also stepped up with 172 kills. Santos and fellow middle blocker Aisha Carr lead the Seminole defense with 83 and 73 total blocks respectively. Freshman libero Summer Weissing has provided solid talent along the back row with a team-best 214 digs, and sophomore setter Jessica Skower leads the team in assists with 735.
