NC State Volleyball Falls at Georgia Tech

ATLANTA – Following one of its best matches of the season on Friday, the NC State volleyball team was unable to match that level of play Sunday afternoon and dropped a 3-0 decision at Georgia Tech inside O'Keefe Gym.

The Wolfpack falls to 9-7 and 2-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), while the Yellow Jackets improve to 11-5 and 2-2 in league play.

Quoting Hampton-Keith
Opening statement…
"Today was a tough day for our team," said head coach Linda Hampton-Keith. "We were reminded that we have to maintain a high level of play while on the road. We're going into tough environments and we have to be better at starting strong and controlling the things we can control.

"We talked as a team afterwards and agreed to learn, grow and move forward with the resolve to get better this week in practice in preparation for our next challenge ahead of us. I'm excited to see how we rise to the challenge this week brings."

Match Rewind
- NC State got off to a slow start in the match, as Georgia Tech jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set and later extended the advantage to 11-5, forcing a Wolfpack timeout.
- The Pack countered with four unanswered points a few rallies later to trim the tally to 14-10, compelling the Yellow Jackets to take a timeout.
- After Georgia Tech pulled away in the frame, NC State responded with a 6-1 run but the Yellow Jackets were able to halt the rally to earn the 25-18 first-set victory.
- The second set was tight early, as a service ace by Kaitlyn Kearney knotted the score at 11, but from there it was all Georgia Tech en route to a 25-12 win.
- Trailing 4-1 in the third set, NC State scored three consecutive points capped by back-to-back blocks to even the score at four.
- A 7-2 run helped the Pack cut the Tech lead to 22-20 in the frame. Senior Maggie Speaks served an ace a few points later to trim the deficit to 23-22.
- Following a kill by Georgia Tech to get match point, 24-23, sophomore Teni Sopitan swatted a kill to stave off the first match point attempt for the Yellow Jackets, but they converted on their second effort to win the third set, 25-23, and the match, 3-0.

Top Performers
- Kearney turned in a strong performance for NC State with seven kills to go along with a .545 attacking percentage.
- Junior Julia Brown tallied nine kills in the contest and Sopitan pitched in with six.
- Speaks handed out 28 assists from her setter position and also collected five digs.
- Defensively, senior libero Rachel Eppley had nine digs, while freshman Grace Irvin and Brown each had eight.

Up Next
NC State will return to action Friday, Oct. 7 when it hosts the Miami Hurricanes inside Reynolds Coliseum. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. and the contest will be broadcast live on the ACC Network Extra.

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Team Stats

Julia Brown

Kaitlyn Kearney

Teni Sopitan

Erin Chatman

Players Mentioned

Julia Brown

Rachel Eppley

Grace Irvin

Kaitlyn Kearney

Teni Sopitan

Maggie Speaks

Players Mentioned

Julia Brown

Rachel Eppley

Grace Irvin

Kaitlyn Kearney

Teni Sopitan

Maggie Speaks