Following a 3-1 victory Friday night versus Maryland, the Wolfpack took on the Boston College Eagles Saturday night at Reynolds Coliseum in pursuit of their 17th win of the season.
In the first set, N.C . State took care of business and won the set 25-16 by playing good defense and taking care of the ball. After Boston College took an early 8-3 lead in the second set, Coach Bryan Bunn called a timeout and the momentum swung back in State’s favor.
State went on to win the second set 25-19. In the third set, State looked like they were going to cruise to win the match early in the set, but the Eagles capitalized on the Wolfpack’s errors and ended up winning the set. The re-energized Eagles and the Pack battled back and forth in the fourth set. Boston College was on the verge of winning the set going up 24-20, but the Wolfpack clawed back and won the set 27-25.
Senior middle blocker Margaret Salata tied a career-high with 19 kills and led the Wolfpack with 23 points. Junior setter Megan Cyr had 45 assists in the game. On the defensive side of the ball, senior libero Kelly Wood had 22 digs.
Salata thought it was a big conference win and was happy that the team was able to overcome losing the third set.
“Getting the win was really important for us,” Salata said. “I was glad the team was able to pull it out. It was just like what we did yesterday; we were down, but we battled. That was really good.”
Bunn said the team is gaining confidence and noted that comebacks aren’t a stranger to his team.
“We are starting to build confidence,” Bunn said. “With young people, it takes a while to do that. We made a run against Virginia Tech when we were down 17-24. We have made other runs to take leads. The girls are doing what it takes and had the intensity to get the final match point.”
The victory gave State their fifth ACC win of the season and improved their overall record to 17-9. The win guarantees a winning season for the Pack, the first since 1996. The 1996 team went 21-16.
Before coming to State three years ago, Salata was aware of the program’s struggles and made it a goal to steer around the program’s direction.
“Personally, [a winning season] is huge,” Salata said. “During my recruitment and coming into this program, I knew it was a losing program, so I felt a responsibility to help turn the program around and it coming true is just awesome.”
So far in his second year as head coach, Bunn has been successful in restoring the program but insists there is still more work to be done.
“It’s terrific [having a winning season],” Bunn said. “We are trying to build something here. We haven’t had a winning season in awhile, so it’s good to improve on what we did last year. We still have seven matches to go and we have a shot to win those, too. We are very excited, but no matter your record it is all about the next match.”
The Wolfpack will travel to Tallahassee to play Florida State at 7 p.m Friday.
