North Carolina State University Athletics
Volleyball Hits Road To Face Wake Forest
10/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 19, 2011
NC State (14-8 overall, 2-7 ACC) vs. Wake Forest (5-13, 2-7)
Time: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Place: Reynolds Gym, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Series Record: Wake Forest leads, 27-17.
Gametracker
NC State at Duke (12-6, 6-3)
Time: Friday, 7 p.m.
Place: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, N.C.
Series record: Duke leads, 57-29.
Live Stats
Live Stream (via Duke’s Inside Access)
RALEIGH, N.C. – Following four consecutive home matches, NC State’s volleyball team hits the road for a pair of ACC contests, traveling to play Wake Forest in a mid-week match on Wednesday followed by a trip to Duke on Friday.
Both matches are slated to begin at 7 p.m.
So far this season, second-year head coach Bryan Bunn’s team owns a 2-3 record in ACC road matches, having won at Boston College in its first conference match of the season and at Georgia Tech in the first of its record-setting six straight five-set matches.
Since beating the Yellow Jackets, the Wolfpack has lost six straight conference matches, two on the road and four at home. Five of those matches went five sets, while the Pack’s most recent match was a 3-1 loss to Virginia.
Wake Forest is coming off a 3-0 loss to Boston College, in which the Demon Deacons posted their highest hitting percentage off the season (.327).
In the Pack’s match at Duke, the Blue Devils will host their “Dig Pink” event to raise breast cancer awareness. Heading into Wednesday night’s match against North Carolina, the Blue Devils have won 18 consecutive ACC contests at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Pack last won against Wake Forest in the 1997 ACC Tournament and against Duke in 2000 in Raleigh.
SPORTSMANSHIP WEEK: Both of NC State’s matches this week will be part of the ACC’S Sportsmanship Awareness Weeks, the league’s campaign to emphasize and promote sportsmanship during several weeks through the fall and spring.
At both matches, the Wolfpack will participate with the Deacons and Blue Devils in pregame handshakes to promote good sportsmanship. More than 45 events will be part of the 2011 ACC Fall Sportsmanship Awareness Week.
IN THE HOPPER: Heading into the recent four-game homestand, freshman Dariyan Hopper of Minooka, Ill., had not recorded a double-digit kill match this season. The closest she had come was nine kills and 10 points in the Wolfpack’s 3-1 victory over Charleston Southern in the Hilton Garden Inn Mayfaire Tournament in Wilmington, N.C., on Sept. 9.
But beginning with the match against Miami, Hopper has recorded four consecutive contests with double-digit kills. She had 11 against the Hurricanes, 16 against Florida State, a career-high 21 against Virginia Tech and 14 against Virginia.
Hopper has played in every set for the last seven matches, a total of 34 straight sets out of her 58 played in her inaugural season with the Wolfpack.
During that span, she has posted a .198 hitting average.
SOLID WOOD: Senior librero Kelly Wood of Yadkinville is one of two ironmen for the Wolfpack this season. She and junior setter Megan Cyr are the only two players on the roster who have played in all 83 sets this season.
Against Virginia Tech, Wood had a season-high 27 digs for the Pack, nearing the career high she set two years ago as a sophomore. She had 29 in a four-set loss to George Mason. She matched that total last year against Clemson.
Wood leads the Wolfpack with 330 digs this season, or 3.98 digs per set. She has led the program in digs three of the last four seasons and currently ranks second all-time in career digs with 1,639.
Jennifer Peterson, who played for the Pack from 1994-97, recorded 1,767 digs in four seasons.
Wood, who has missed just one set in her four seasons with the Pack, is closing in on the top 10 of career games played. She has played in 442 of a possible 443 sets in the last four years. Peterson also owns the school record with 510 games played, followed by Amy Lemerman with 509.
Wood could move into the top 10 this week, as the Wolfpack plays at Wake Forest and Duke. Kerry Bridenback ranks 10th with 445 sets played.
MARATHON MATCHES: NC State’s school- and ACC-record stretch of six consecutive five-set matches came to an end last weekend in a 3-1 loss to Virginia at Reynolds Coliseum. The night before, the Wolfpack went five sets against Virginia Tech, breaking the ACC mark the Wolfpack shared with North Carolina.
The Tar Heels played five consecutive five-set matches in 1992, four against ACC foes and one against a non-conference opponent. Virginia Tech, as a member of the Atlantic 10, played five consecutive five-set matches in 1999, four against conference opponents and one against a non-conference opponent.
But the Wolfpack’s streak was comprised of six consecutive conference matches, an unprecedented and grueling streak that amounted to more than four additional matches on the schedule.
In the Wolfpack’s first 15 matches, it played a total of 49 sets in 29 days. That includes three days with two matches during early season tournaments.
In its last seven matches, in a span of just 16 days, the Wolfpack has played 34 total sets, including the six consecutive matches that went to a maximum of five sets and one match that went four sets.
Here’s a breakdown of each ACC school’s longest streak of five-set matches:
School Overall Year
NC State 6 2011
Virginia Tech 5 1999 *
North Carolina 5 1992
Boston College 4 2004%
Virginia 4 2003
Maryland 4 2003
Georgia Tech 4 2002
Clemson 3 2010
Duke 3 2010
Florida State 3 2010
Miami 3 2009
Wake Forest 3 2006
*Member of the Atlantic 10
% Member of the Big East
WINNING WAYS: After losing its season-opening match to Appalachian State, NC State reeled off 13 consecutive wins to break a 24-year-old school record. The previous record of 12 was set by the 1987 Wolfpack en route to the ACC championship.
ACES: For the second time this season, senior librero Kelly Wood recorded three service aces in the match against Virginia. She also had three against North Carolina A&T on Sept. 2. Freshman Nicole Glass also has a pair of three-ace matches this season (against East Carolina and Charlotte) and freshman Alston Kearns had three against North Carolina A&T. The Wolfpack had a season-high 12 aces in the match against N.C. A&T.
KILLS: The Wolfpack had a season-high 68 kills in the five-set loss to Virginia Tech on Oct. 14, surpassing the previous high of 66, which the Pack recorded in five-set losses to both Miami and Florida State the week before.
RPI: In the NCAA’s first RPI report of the season, NC State ranks 116th of 327 Division I volleyball programs and eighth among the 12 ACC teams.
SECOND GLASS ACT: For the second time this season, Wolfpack freshman Nicole Glass of Colorado Springs, Colo., was named the ACC Volleyball Freshman of the Week, following her performances against the league’s top three teams.
In three matches, the outside hitter recorded 50 kills and 53 points. Against No. 21 Miami, Glass recorded a career-high 21 kills and 22 points for the Wolfpack, while notching a hitting average of .286. She added another 19 kills against the Seminoles and 10 against the Tar Heels.
Her previous career high was 16 on Sept. 10 in a 3-0 victory over UNC Wilmington.
Glass also added three aces in the three matches, giving her a team-high total of 19 for the season.
Glass also won the Freshman of the Week award on Sept. 12 after being named most valuable player at the Hilton Garden Inn Mayfaire Tournament in Wilmington, N.C., where she led the Wolfpack to three straight wins with three consecutive matches of double-digit kills.
HITS & MISSES: The Wolfpack had a season-high attack percentage of .441 in a 3-0 sweep of North Carolina A&T on Sept. 2 in the Courtyard Midtown Classic at Reynolds Coliseum. In its last match, a 3-2 loss to North Carolina, the Pack had a season-low .092 hitting average.
MVP THREESOME: Junior setter Megan Cyr was named the Most Valuable Player at the Wolfpack’s own Courtyard Midtown Invitational at Reynolds Coliseum, making her the Pack’s third tournament MVP in as many weeks.
Cyr had the Wolfpack’s balanced offense clicking, with three consecutive 3-0 victories over Liberty, The Citadel and Towson. In nine overall sets, the transfer from Colorado had 104 assists and nine kills.
She was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Margaret Salata, a senior middle blocker from Buffalo Grove, Ill., and Kelly Wood, a senior librero from Yadkinville, N.C.
Sophomore Brie Merriwether was named the MVP of the Wolfpack’s first tournament of the season, the Courtyard Midtown Classic on Sept. 2-3. Teammate Luciana Shafer was also named to the all-tournament team.
Glass was named the MVP of the Hilton Garden Inn Mayfaire Tournament in Wilmington on Sept. 9-10, with senior Margaret Salata and Merriwether joining her on the all-tournament team.
ROOKIES GALORE: Following her MVP performance, Glass received her first ACC Freshman of the Week for Sept. 12, becoming the first Wolfpack rookie to win the award since its inception in 2010.
Glass is one of four freshmen who have started for the Wolfpack this season, along with Rachel Buckley of Carrollton, Texas; Dariyan Hopper of Minooka, Ill.; and Alston Kearns of Apex, N.C.
In all, the Wolfpack has nine true freshmen among its 11 newcomers. Others who have seen action this season are Ana Asher of Crozet, Va.; Laura Blab of Wimberley, Texas; Rachel Frick of Charlotte; Hannah Thompson of Henderson, N.C.; and Alesha Wilson of Keller, Texas.
NC State also has one redshirt freshman, Cal-Poly transfer Katie Ryan of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.
