DURHAM — The volleyball team lost 3-0 to No. 24 Duke (22-6, 17-3 ACC) Saturday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Pack dropped to 3-27 (0-20 ACC), losing its 54th straight ACC match.
Despite the sweep by the Blue Devils, the Wolfpack was in every game early. State was down by a maximum of three at the Devils’ 10-point mark in each game. Past that point though, Duke pulled away and won the three games 30-21, 30-19 and 30-21, respectively.
“They are just a physically more athletic team than us, which is why they pulled it out,” freshman libero Lindsay Benac, who led the team with 12 digs, said. “We can all play back and forth, back and forth, but ultimately if they are more athletic, then they can get it done.”
The Pack’s effort was a plus, according to coach Charita Stubbs.
“I never felt as thought they gave up, which was really nice to see,” Stubbs said. “I thought they fought the entire time and believed that they could actually do it.”
Sophomore outside hitter Chrissy Zirpolo, third on the team with five kills, said the team started well
“We’ve come out a couple times like this, just relaxed and into the game, fired up,” Zirpolo said.
State had confidence in the match partly because of its previous match against Duke earlier this season in Reynolds Coliseum.
“We had played them before,” Stubbs said. “We had a little confidence because we took a game off of them before, so our players were really excited about that and ready to play.”
Zirpolo said the team had success working together in the match.
“We played really well together as a team,” Zirpolo said. “We had a lot more trust with each other tonight.”
“I thought they did a good job of talking to one another,” Stubbs said.
But while there were positives for the Pack in the game, the team still has plenty of adjustments to make. State finished with a .048 hitting percentage, compared to Duke’s .308. Duke also registered 59 kills, while the Pack mustered only 29. Freshman Lauren Zaniboni led the team with nine kills.
“We still have to find ways to score,” Stubbs said. “The reality is if you don’t score points, you’re not going to win because if you’re giving up points, you’ve got to be able to at least match that total.”
Two opportunities still exist for State to break the ACC losing streak of 54 this season. The Pack closes out its season with two matches in Florida. One comes against Florida State on Wednesday and the other at Miami on Friday. The team will continue to seek to improve, attempting to bring the same energy and drive it had Saturday.
“As a team, we need to take this fight we had tonight and bring it to Florida with us this weekend,” Benac said.
