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October 11, 2024
Final: NC State 3 UNC 1
Raleigh, NC-Friday night was a jam-packed night at Reynolds Coliseum as visiting North Carolina (12-2, 4-1 ACC) made the short drive to Raleigh to take on host NC State (8-5, 3-2 ACC) in a rivalry matchup featuring 2 of the best teams in the ACC. UNC came into the match winners of 8 in a row, however dropped the match in 2023 at Carmichael Gymnasium to the Wolfpack in 4 sets.
UNC owns the series lead over the Wolfpack 92-34 and allowed NC State just 3 total wins in the last 10 years. UNC is coached by Mike Schall who is in his second year as head coach. The Tar Heels have steadily improved under Coach Schall. Coach Luka Slabe also has brought the Wolfpack to the forefront of the ACC as well over his tenure. The 2024 squad is full of experience and talent and is led by Amanda Rice, Ava Brizard, and Courtney Bryant.
1st Set
The Wolfpack got off a to a great start as they held an early 6-4 lead. UNC would take 5 of the next 6 points to force an NC State timeout with the Heels leading 9-7. UNC would come out of the timeout and take the next 3 points to force a second timeout from the Wolfpack with the Heels holding a 12-7 lead.
NC State would cut the lead to 3 at 17-14 as the Wolfpack began to clean up some of their errors to play cleaner. UNC had several service errors to allow NC State to claw its way back into the match. NC State would tie the match at 19-19 forcing the Tar Heels to take a timeout to regroup. The Heels UNC would respond and take the 1st set 25-23. The Wolfpack held off 2 set points, however were unable to stave off a 3rd set point to give UNC the early 1-0 lead.
Credit to Mike Aliff
2nd Set
The 2 teams would remain tied early in the second set as the score was 6-6 in the back-and-forth affair. NC State would go on a 3-point run to take a 12-9 lead midway through the set. The lead would grow to 4 at the media timeout with the Wolfpack leading 15-11 after a Courtney Bryant kill entering the media timeout.
NC State came out of the media timeout and won the next 2 points as well to balloon the lead to 17-11 forcing a UNC timeout. UNC would respond by winning 4 of the next 5 points out of the timeout to cut the lead to just 3 at 18-15 forcing NC State into a timeout.
Credit to Mike Aliff
NC State would take the next 3 points to push lead back out to 6 at 21-15 forcing a UNC timeout. The Wolfpack would earn the set win 25-18 after the Wolfpack earned the set point on a Tar Heel attack error to even the match at 1-1
Through 2 sets Amanda Rice led the Wolfpack with 11 total kills. Courtney Bryant was second with 5. Madison Williams and Ava Brizard each had 3.
3rd Set
NC State would ride the momentum from the 2nd set and come out firing in the first part of the 3rd set to take the early 6-3 lead. The early lead would force UNC into an early set timeout. The Tar Heels would be forced to take a 2nd timeout as the lead for the Wolfpack swelled to 12-4.
The Tar Heels stormed back to cut the lead to 1 with the Wolfpack leading 19-18. NC State would take a timeout to slow the UNC momentum after leading for the entire set. The Tar Heels would take the lead at 20-19, but it would be short-lived as the Wolfpack would score the next 3 points to take a 22-20 lead late in the set.
NC State would go on to take a pivotal set in the match with a 25-22 win. The win would give the Wolfpack a match lead of 2 sets to 1. Amanda Rice would continue to pace the Pack with 12 total kills. Ava Brizard though was the offensive leader for the Pack in the 3rd set as she would tally 6 kills giving her 9 for the match. Courtney Bryant also finished the 3rd set with 9 kills of her own.
4th Set
The fourth set would start much like the third. Both teams would go back and forth until the Tar Heels took a 9-7 lead that forced NC State to take an early set timeout. Tbe Wolfpack surged to take the set lead 12-11 on Courtney Bryant’s 10th kill of the night forcing a Tar Heel timeout.
The lead would remain 1 for NC State at 17-16, but another service error for UNC would halt the Tar Heel momentum once again. The Tar Heels would take the lead 21-19 late in the third after a deflection off the videoboard helped the Tar Heels to the 2-point lead.
NC State would take the timeout after the point to halt the momentum. The set would be tied 22-22 after an ace from Sky Stokes forcing UNC into a timeout. An attack error followed by an Amanda Rice kill would give the Wolfpack a 24-22 lead. Courtney Bryant would cap it off with the winning kill to give the Wolfpack the set and match win. UNC had 9 service errors on the night to aid the Wolfpack in their winning effort.
Amanda Rice would finish with a season high 19 Kills. Ava Brizard finished with 15 kills of her own and Courtney Bryant would tally 12. The 3-headed monster for NC State has been a force all season long and have helped the Wolfpack earn respect throughout the ACC.
Next up for the Wolfpack is a Sunday afternoon matchup with the Blue Devils at 1PM EST.
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