North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
Duke
Volleyball Drops Match to Duke
11/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 5, 2010
RALEIGH, N.C. -
NC State volleyball dropped its second match in a row on Friday, Nov. 5, falling to Duke in straight-sets. The loss makes the Wolfpack13-14 overall and 3-12 in ACC play, but brings the Blue Devils to 20-4 and 12-2 in the league this season.
Luciana Shafer earned her sixth double-double of 2010, scoring 11 kills and 10 digs to go along with two service aces in the match. Margaret Salata paced the Pack by hitting at a .385 attack percentage en route to smashing seven kills. In addition, Megan Cyr narrowly missed her seventh double-double of the season, dishing out 27 assists and corralling nine digs.
Defensively, Alexa Micek and Shafer led the Wolfpack by earning 10 digs a piece, while Cyr and senior Alex Smith contributed nine. NC State scored only one total block in the match, a season-low.
The match began with a bang, as Anna Moore emphatically drilled the first point of the set, giving the Wolfpack a 1-0 lead. This lead, however, would be the Pack's last in the opening frame. After being down 10-13, NC State fought back to knot the score at 13. Then, though, Duke rattled off four-straight points, forcing Wolfpack head coach Bryan Bunn to utilize a timeout. Out of the timeout, the Blue Devils put another five-straight points on the board to take a 14-21 lead, and ended up winning the set 17-25.
In the second set, the Wolfpack hit at a match-high .172 clip, which was not enough to compete with Duke's .429 mark. NC State took only its second lead of the match (12-11) following a Brie Merriwether kill, and extended it, making the score 15-12 at its largest margin. After a 20-19 Pack lead, Duke scored six points in a row to close out the set, winning by a score of 20-25.
The final frame saw a series of Duke runs, including two of five-straight points. The Wolfpack offense could never find a rhythm, and earned just a .040 attack percentage. In the end, Duke's hot hitting was too much for the Pack, which ended up dropping the set 14-25.
NC State returns to action Friday, Nov. 12 to take on Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., at 7 p.m. Also, the squad will battle Florida State on Sunday, Nov. 14 at 1 p.m. in Tallahassee, Fla. Both contests will be available on Gametracker via GoPack.com.
