The Pack continues its tear through the young season as it swept through the Courtyard Midtown Classic to open its home schedule at Reynolds Coliseum. With these wins, the State squad improved its record to 6-1 while piling up a six-game winning streak.
The Wolfpack won three of its four games in straight sets, which included victories over N.C . A&T, Western Carolina and Campbell. The only game that provided the Pack with a challenge was its match against the Wisconsin Badgers, where the Pack came from a 0-2 deficit and won three straight sets to win the match.
According to Coach Bryan Bunn , this victory can be marked as the Pack’s first signature win on the season. The Badgers came into the match with a 2-2 record. Last season, the Badgers finished with a 16-15 record and finished 10th in the Big Ten.
“That was a tough match against Wisconsin,” Bunn said. “They’re a perennial powerhouse in the Big Ten. We were down 0-2, then we came back to win in the next three sets, so it was very exciting.”
Bunn said the young squad is settling down and working to eliminate mistakes, which played a big role in the comeback. N.C . State fumbled through the first two sets with 19 errors, but pulled themselves out of the hole and only committed 16 errors through the final three sets of the match.
“We really didn’t change anything,” Bunn said. “We just stopped making errors and started picking up our ball control a little bit more.”
Sophomore Brie Merriwether won the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award. She proved to be one of the offensive leaders of the Pack with 14 kills during the Wisconsin match and 37 for the tournament.
Bunn also points out senior Luciana Shafer as a key player for the Pack during the tournament. Shafer followed Merriwether in kills for the Wisconsin match with 12. She also contributed defensively with 9 digs and one block for the match.
Shafer was named to the All-Tournament team, along with Crystal Graff and Elle Ohlander of Wisconsin, Caitlin Piechota from Western Carolina and Heather Wilson of Campbell.
“Brie Meriwether got the MVP of the tournament, she played really well,” Bunn said. “Luciana Schafer, on the outside, did a great job for us. She did a nice job taking care of the ball. She had over .500 in three of the matches and did a great job against Wisconsin.”
Freshman Alston Kearns and senior Kelly Wood lead the charge on the defensive end for the Pack with 19 and 17 digs each, respectively.
After dropping its first match against the Appalachian State Mountaineers in Boone, N.C ., the Wolfpack hasn’t looked back. After the Wolfpack’s rocky start to the season, Bunn believes that the Pack will definitely have a bright future after its play this weekend.
“It felt good to win,” Bunn said. “We had a rough start in our first match but I’m very proud. They did very well this weekend.”
