The NC State volleyball team swept the Indiana Hoosiers 3-0 in the Pack’s biggest win of the season so far on Thursday, Sept. 8 in Reynolds Coliseum.
The Wolfpack (5-2) came back from a four-point deficit late in the first set and never looked back to take down the Hoosiers (5-3).
“We were overall offensively and defensively better,” said head coach Luka Slabe. “We kept them in a lot of trouble with serve-receive, but we were also not where we need to be in our serve-receive. Today that turned out to be enough.”
The two teams started out back-and-forth in the first set. At one point, NC State held a three-point lead at 10-7, but the Hoosiers went on an 11-4 run to go ahead 18-14. However, the Pack then went on an 8-1 run to retake the lead and closed out the set 25-23 to go up 1-0.
“I didn’t think twice about the score,” said graduate opposite hitter Vanja Bukilic. “I was like, ‘I’m gonna do my job,’ and we did. We scored. We were like, ‘Okay, let’s just play volleyball.’”
The second set was close, with each team trading points until the Wolfpack pulled ahead to a six-point lead halfway through the set. Indiana and NC State tied for total kills in this set with 13 each. With the set tied at 23-23, the Pack was able to gain momentum off of a service error from Indiana and eventually won the set with another score of 25-23.
It was all Wolfpack from the third set onward as the team jumped out to a 4-0 lead and led by as many as eight at several points. The Hoosiers closed the lead to as little as three towards the end, but the Pack scored the final three points to close it out and complete the sweep.
Bukilic led all players in points with 16 and was tied for the match lead in kills with 13. Both figures were new bests for Bukilic in her first season with the Wolfpack since transferring from Ohio State.
“I’ve been working on cleaner volleyball, less mistakes, and I think it’s paying off,” Bukilic said. “There’s definitely room for improvement. I made some mistakes, but it’ll be better.”
NC State finished with 43 kills compared to 37 from Indiana and had a hitting percentage of .294 compared to the Hoosiers’ .181. This was also the biggest win of the season so far for the Pack as it was the team’s first win against a Power Five opponent.
“It helps our team to understand what we’re doing, that we’re on the right track, on the right path,” Slabe said. “There’s much more to come and much more learning. Let’s enjoy that for a brief moment, and I already told them to move on.”
The Wolfpack remains at home for a doubleheader against Western Carolina and TCU on Friday, Sept. 9. The matches take place at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively.
