NC State volleyball wrapped up the Wolfpack-Camels Invitational with a 3-0 win against Campbell at Reynolds Coliseum Sunday.
The Wolfpack (5-3) swept the Camels (2-8) in three sets. It marked the second time this season that the Pack has won in straight sets, the first being earlier this weekend against Wright State.
The first set was a back-and-forth battle, with the Pack coming out on top 25-19. The second set was a much more Pack controlled set, as the team was able to restrict the Camels to only 11 points and never gave up the lead. The third and final set ended in the Pack’s victory, wrapping up a two-win weekend despite dropping a match Friday night to Utah Valley.
“We’re really pleased with our ability to come back after a match like Friday night,” head coach Linda Hampton-Keith said. “To come to practice yesterday and get refocused and reset to take care of a match like that today, because that could have gone long and ugly. But I’m really glad that we were able to keep it for the most part clean and execute.”
Sophomore outside hitter Melissa Evans echoed Hampton-Keith’s statement.
“We changed our adaptability. We let Utah Valley just do what they did and we didn’t change to what they were doing,” Evans said. “I think today we really focused on changing to whatever Campbell was doing.”
The first set began with the Wolfpack taking the lead 5-2, and gave an appearance of a potentially quick set. That was not the case when the Camels closed the gap to 8-7 before taking the lead.
The Pack appeared to be able to collect itself on the floor and pull its way back, tying the score from a solo block from graduate middle blocker Kiera Moore followed by an attack from Moore to take back the lead.
The Camels were still riding on their momentum and were able to pull ahead again. As the Pack soon called a timeout to slow down. Returning to the court, the Pack took back the control of the first set, going on a 5-1 run to take a 20-18 lead causing Campbell to use a timeout.
The effort was futile for the Camels, as the Pack finished out strong 25-19.
The Wolfpack carried its momentum into the second set, jumping out to a five-point lead on the Camels.
The Camels called a timeout to try and break the Pack’s momentum and found themselves successful in slowing the Pack down, but were unable to stop NC State.
Evans was set up by senior setter Kylie Pickrell for a kill to give the Pack a six-point margin at 13-7. The Wolfpack continued to make the Camels scramble on the court, causing the Camels to commit two consecutive errors allowing the Pack to advance 18-11, its largest lead in the set.
Senior middle blocker Teni Sopitan had three kills in the second set, her third being the final kill to claim a 25-11 victory.
With a 2-0 advantage, the Wolfpack entered the third set with Evans leading the offense with three kills out of the first five points scored for the Pack.
Yet the Camels gave the Pack a challenge as they started to close the gap until the teams were tied 9-9. The Wolfpack and the Camels traded points with the Pack leading 12-11 halfway through the third set.
The Camels called a timeout but it had no effect on the Pack, which returned to continue where it left off, leading the Camels by six points.
As soon as it looked like the Pack was going to easily finish off the third set, the Camels came back to close the gap 22-19.
An attack from Pickrell stopped the Camels run and a service ace from redshirt senior outside hitter Erin Chatman put the Pack at matchpoint.
Once again, Sopitan got the last kill to end the set 25-20 with a 3-0 victory.
Senior libero Makenzie Kuchmaner had 20 digs in the match, which is the third highest total digs in a three-set match in the ACC this season.
“I give all credit to my blockers, their lineups were really good today, so I was able to read around it,” said Kuchmaner.
The Wolfpack will compete against Arkansas for the ACC-SEC Challenge Friday in Atlanta, Georgia at 4 p.m.
Keira Moore a graduate middle blocker goes up for a kill. Moore had six kills. NC State won against Campbell 3 - 0 on Sunday, Sept. 9.
