Washington State Snaps NC State’s Year-Long Home Win Streak

NC STATE HOSTED ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT

Friday, August 24

NC State went 1-1 this weekend at their hosted tournament, and that 1 loss was a significant one. On the one year anniversary of the Wolfpack’s last loss at home, against Kansas on August 26th, 2017, Washington State ended their  12-match, and full calendar year, home winning streak.

NC STATE DEF. VCU 3-2

• NC State def. VCU 3-2 (25-21, 25-15, 21-25, 17-25, 15-11)
• NC State improved to 1-0; VCU fell to 0-1
• Raleigh, North Carolina | Reynolds Coliseum
  • Attendance: 1,601
• Box Score
• NC State Release | VCU Release

To open up this tournament/round-robin hosted by NC State, the home team earned a five-set victory over Virginia Commonwealth.

Both of these teams made the NCAA Tournament in 2017, and are hoping for the same in 2018 after losing some key pieces from last year’s bunches.

Leading the charge in the comeback for VCU was Vicky Giommarini (16 kills, 10 digs), while NC State fended off the attack with Melissa Evans (20 kills, .311, 8 digs). Overall the match was kind of sloppy, but it gave both teams an early opportunity to perform in a high-pressure situation and grind a match out.

Each side was close in hitting efficiency (.167 for VCU versus .166 for NC State) while VCU totaled more aces (9-4) and blocks (11-8) compared to more kills (53-49), assists (47-44) and digs (66-46) from NC State.

It was the 12th consecutive home victory for NC State as they opened the season 1-0 with VCU starting out 0-1.

Saturday, August 25

(RV) WASHINGTON STATE DEF. VCU 3-0

• (RV) Washington State def. VCU 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-18)
• Washington State improved to 1-0; VCU fell to 0-2
• Raleigh, North Carolina | Reynolds Coliseum
  • Attendance: 622
• Box Score
• Washington State Release | VCU Release

The Cougars earned their 28th season opening victory in the last 32 years as they defeated the defending Atlantic 10 Champions to send the Rams to an 0-2 beginning.

While the Washington State offense was strong and hit .289, it was their defense and VCU’s inability to get rhythm offensively that would be their downfall. The Rams hit just .033 for the entire match and -.036 in the final game. That was well represented in total kills (45-21) and assists (42-19), while VCU had more aces (6-3) and digs (48-31).

In fact, no VCU players had more than six kills, as their top point scorer was Vicky Giommarini (6 kills, .033, 3 blocks). Meanwhile, the top two for Washington State had more kills than everyone on VCU combined in McKenna Woodford (10 kills, .250, 6 digs) and Taylor Mims (16 kills, .324, 8 digs, 3 blocks).

Mims also inched closer to the 1,000 kill mark as she passed 900 for her career and is at 915 to be exact. Alexis Dirige (15 digs) also moved into a tie for 10th most digs in school history at 1,070 total.

With the result, that made the match between Washington State and NC State (recap below) for all the marbles in this round-robin tournament.

Sunday, August 26

(RV) WASHINGTON STATE DEF. NC STATE 3-1

• (RV) Washington State def. NC State 3-1 (25-14, 25-17, 22-25, 25-8)
• Washington State improves to 2-0; NC State falls to 1-1
• Raleigh, North Carolina | Reynolds Coliseum
  • Attendance: 953
• Box Score
• Washington State Release | NC State Release

This match was a de facto championship match after both schools downed VCU. Knowing that, Washington State’s victory  earned them the first-place honors over host NC State. It was also a streak-snapping victory for Washington State, ending a 12-match home-winning streak for the Wolfpack.

The Cougars book-ended the match with dominant sets, winning 50-22 in those two games and 75-39 in the three they won overall. The offense was smooth in hitting .258, but the defense might have been even better in holding NC State to a .035 clip. They were led by their block (13-5 advantage) and serve (6-3 ace advantage).

Taylor Mims once again put up a strong performance as she netted 15 kills (.238), 10 digs, 4 blocks and a pair of aces. Her play, combined with the win over VCU, was enough for her to be named Tournament MVP. McKenna Woodford also had 15 kills to go with 6 digs and 2 blocks. Leading the defense for Washington State were Alexis Dirige (15 digs) and Ella Lajos (7 blocks).

In the losing effort for NC State, Teni Sopitan (10 kills, 3 digs, 3 blocks) and Melissa Evans (9 kills, 5 digs, 2 blocks) led the offense in production, but also had just one more combined kill than error. Makenzie Kuchmaner (21 digs) patrolled the back-row for the defense.

🚨All-Tournament Honors🚨
No doubt about it, @JaiMims MVP@kennabanena & @AlexisDirige All-Tournament Team#GoCougs #RiseAgain pic.twitter.com/vLk4NJmkhM

— Cougar Volleyball (@wsuvolleyball) August 26, 2018