Volleyball Breaks Program Records in Dominant 3-0 Sweep at Virginia Tech

Sunday, October 30

Blacksburg, Va. (Cassell Coliseum)

1 P.M.

NC State

14-10, 7-5ACC

Virginia Tech

8-15, 3-9ACC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
NC State	25	25	25	3
Virginia Tech	16	19	16	0

Photo by: Greg Mintel

Volleyball Breaks Program Records in Dominant 3-0 Sweep at Virginia Tech

10/30/2016 3:55:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

Wolfpack tallies a team attacking percentage of .462

BLACKSBURG, Va. – The NC State volleyball team made a #STATEment Sunday afternoon with a dominant performance at Virginia Tech to earn the 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-16) sweep inside Cassell Coliseum, breaking the program's rally-scoring era and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) record for highest team attacking percentage in the process.

The Wolfpack tallied 42 kills in the match on 78 swings and only committed six errors, fewest in a match this season, to break the program's previous rally-scoring era of .452 with a .462 clip.

NC State improves to 14-10 overall and 7-5 in ACC play, while Virginia Tech falls to 8-15 and 3-9 in conference action.

Worth Noting
- The Wolfpack's .462 attacking percentage bests the program's previous mark for an ACC match of .407 set earlier this season at Clemson.
- The mark sets NC State's rally-scoring era program record and is the fourth highest in program history.
- NC State hit a season-high .593 in the third set, highlighted by 17 kills on 27 swings with only one miscue.
- The Wolfpack never trailed in the first or second sets and only trailed for one point in the third set.
- Sophomore defensive specialist Kassie Kasper earned her first start of the season in the contest.

Quoting Hampton-Keith
Thoughts on the match…
"I'm really proud of our team's efforts today," said head coach Linda Hampton-Keith. "In the context of the weekend, it was a great performance by our team given the gut wrenching match we had on Friday night. Any win on the road in this conference is a hard earned win.

"Breaking the program record again is a testament to this team's ability to continue to grow and get better every week. We spend a lot of time talking about controlling what we can control and for our hitters to be that mindful and to stay clean throughout the match is impressive."

Match Rewind
- Junior Julia Brown helped NC State start the match on a positive note with a kill from the outside, as the Wolfpack earned a side out on its first attempt of the contest.
- From there, things continued to go the Pack's way as it won seven of the first eight points to take a 7-1 lead forcing a Virginia Tech timeout.
- A 4-1 run gave NC State a 17-10 advantage and the Wolfpack closed out the set with three unanswered points, highlighted by a block assist from Kaitlyn Kearney and Teni Sopitan to cap the set, 25-16.
- NC State recorded a team attacking percentage of .480 in the opening frame, while limiting Virginia Tech to a .194 clip.
- In the second set, the Wolfpack continued its momentum as sophomore Kassie Kasper opened the set with a service ace.
- Back-to-back aces by senior setter Maggie Speaks pushed the NCSU lead to 10-5 resulting in a Hokies timeout.
- Classmate Rachel Eppley also recorded consecutive aces in the set to help NC State grab a 22-15 advantage and a kill by Kearney ended the frame at 25-19, giving the Pack a 2-0 lead in the match.
- NC State continued its high level of play in the third set, registering a team attacking percentage of .593 en route to the 25-16 set win.
- After VT won the first point of the frame, NCSU answered with four consecutive points to grab a 4-1 lead.
- A 9-1 run broke the set open for NC State to extend the lead to 16-6, resulting in the use of both Hokie timeouts.
- Sopitan recorded three consecutive kills during that span and another kill by the Laurel, Md., native and one from Brown ended the set and the match.

Top Performers
- Sopitan led all players with 15 kills in the contest to go along with a .519 attacking percentage.
- Brown smacked 10 kills and Kearney put down seven without an error in addition to five blocks.
- Speaks had a match-high 31 assists and also helped out defensively with 12 digs, recording her 11^th double-double performance of the year.
- Kasper contributed six digs and freshman defensive specialist Grace Irvin matched her total.

Up Next
NC State returns to action when it travels to the Sunshine State to take on No. 11 Florida State and Miami next weekend. The Wolfpack faces the Seminoles at 7 p.m. Friday and the Hurricanes Sunday at 1 p.m.

#STATEment