Finishing the season at the .500 mark, NC State volleyball fell to No. 8 SMU in a five-set thriller of a season finale.
The Wolfpack (15-15, 8-12 ACC) underwent major changes coming into the 2025 season. A new head coach and major roster turnover forced the Pack into a rebuild. On the other side of the net, the Mustangs (25-5, 17-3 ACC) were on top of the league, having fallen just short of an ACC Championship. On paper, the Pack was mightily outmatched — but just like all season, it battled.
With the three middle sets coming down to the wire, including a Set 3 which went deep into extra points, ending 32-30, NC State kept things interesting. On a 24-kill afternoon from senior outside hitter Courtney Bryant — a career-high for the senior in her final collegiate contest — the Pack had its best stuff, but was outmatched by the ACC Championship-contending Mustangs.
SMU gave the Wolfpack plenty of trouble to begin the match. Unable to claim a lead at any point in Set 1, NC State fell 25-14 and it seemed like its fate was doomed like its previous match against a ranked opponent, getting 3-0 swept by No. 13 Miami and winning just five points in the final set.
However, the Pack didn’t lay down and give up. Holding strong in its season finale, it battled to claim the second set. After being down 19-12, NC State clawed back into the contest and won 10 of the last 12 points and won 25-23.
More intensity came in the third set. Once again, the Pack was down midway through, with SMU leading 18-12. A late surge kept it interesting and soon enough, NC State had equalized it and was in search of a game-winning kill. Finding the floor to take a one-set lead over the No. 8 team in the country, Bryant struck the set from redshirt freshman setter Alyssa Forelli.
The Pack couldn’t get the better of the next intense set, falling 25-23 in Set 4. And soon, its luck ran out in the fifth as the Mustangs dominated the final frame 15-7.
Closing a solid season in a rebuild and winning four of its last six matches, the Pack made do with what it had, and finished with an even record despite running into a buzzsaw in its final two matches.
Without a conference tournament in ACC volleyball, the Pack does not have a chance to make an end-of-season run and prove the progress it made in the final stretch of the season. NC State finished 11th in the conference standings.
