Volleyball’s Strong Start Falls Short at UNC-Chapel Hill, 3-1

Wednesday, September 26

Chapel Hill, N.C. (Carmichael Arena)

6:30 P.M.

NC State

7-6, 1-2ACC

UNC-Chapel Hill

5-7, 1-2ACC

NC State

North Carolina

Photo by: Jeff Camarati

Volleyball’s Strong Start Falls Short at UNC-Chapel Hill, 3-1

9/26/2018 9:44:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

Wolfpack drops first ACC road match against Tar Heels

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Despite recording a match-high .467 team attacking percentage in the opening set and never trailing, the NC State volleyball team came up short against UNC-Chapel Hill, 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 23-25, 22-25) Wednesday evening inside Carmichael Arena.

The Wolfpack started the match on fire, as the squad tallied 16 kills and earned an 83 percent sideout by winning the point on 15 of the Tar Heels 18 serves. Unfortunately, NC State unable to maintain that level of play as the Heels won the next three sets to take the match.

NC State moves to 7-6 on the year and 1-2 in ACC play, while UNC-Chapel Hill improves to 5-7 and is also 1-2 in conference action.

Quoting Hampton-Keith
Overall thoughts...
"We're really, really bummed about this one," said head coach Linda Hampton-Keith. "I thought we played better here than we have in the past couple years, but no moral victories because it wasn't good enough to win. The frustrating thing was that we came out really strong and that was great, but we just couldn't sustain that level of play.

"We felt like there were a lot of things in our control that we could have taken care of, but just didn't."

Match Rewind
- NC State opened the match strong with a dominant first set, as the Wolfpack never trailed en route to the 25-17 first-set win.
- The Wolfpack jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first set following six unanswered points.
- A 6-2 run gave NC State a 20-13 advantage after a service ace from Kylie Pickrell to force a timeout and the Pack went on to win the frame.
- NC State charted a .467 team attacking percentage with 16 kills on 30 swings, while limiting UNC-Chapel Hill to a .229 clip with only 12 kills.
- The Pack put together a pair of 6-1 runs in the second set, knotting the score at 12-12 and again at 21-21 but the Tar Heels were strong down the stretch to earn the 25-22 set win to even the match at one.
- The third and fourth sets were tightly contested, featuring a combined 24 ties and 10 lead changes.
- NC State looked to gain control of the third set with a 7-2 run, capped by back-to-back kills from Teni Sopitan to make it 20-17.
- After a kill from freshman Pam Chukwujekwu to knot the set at 22-22, the Tar Heels won three of the next four rallies to take the third set, 25-23.
- The fourth set was a battle early, as neither team led by more than a few points, but NC State took a 22-20 advantage following a Kassie Kasper service ace and kill from Sopitan.
- From there, it was all UNC as the Tar Heels won the final five points of the set to clinch the 3-1 win in the match.

Top Performers
- Sopitan tied for the match-high in the contest with 19 kills, along with standout UNC-Chapel Hill freshman Destiny Cox.
- Sophomore Melissa Evans tallied 14 kills in the match and freshman Jade Parchment put down 11.
- Pickrell charted a match-high 46 assists from her setter position and also logged 13 digs to record her third consecutive double-double.
- Defensively, Parchment led the way with 14 digs to compile her third career double-double. Makenzie Kuchmaner pitched in with 13 digs and Evans had 12 to earn her fourth double-double performance.

Up Next
NC State will return to action Sunday afternoon when the squad takes on Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. First serve is slated for 1 p.m. inside Cassell Coliseum.