Pack Falls Short in Durham

DURHAM – The NC State volleyball team fell to Duke 3-1 Wednesday evening for a mid-week match in Durham. 

Freshman Ava Brizard led the Pack with 15 kills. 

Senior setter Kristen McDaniel totaled 22 assists on the evening. 

Vanja Bukilic and Jada Allen both tallied six blocks for the Pack. 

Set One (23-25)

The Blue Devils took a 4-0 lead to start, forcing head coach Luka Slabe to take an early timeout. The Pack went on to take five straight points to end Duke’s lead. The set became a close battle for the in-state rivals and Duke eventually took back the lead. NC State continued to battle and capitalize on errors made by the Blue Devils. Duke brought the set to match point with the Pack trailing by four, but NC State wasn’t done and rallied back to trail by one. Duke ended up taking the set after the Pack had a block go out of bounce. 

Set Two (25-22)

The Pack went on a 4-0 run to start the set. Duke minimized the Pack’s lead to one, causing Slabe to take a timeout, but NC State came out of the timeout to take two straight points. Duke managed to tie the match at ten all, but recorded a service error on the next point to allow the Pack to lead once again. Brizard recorded four kills for the Pack and ended the set after an assist from McDaniel.

Set Three (17-25)

Like set two, the Pack started off with a 5-1 lead. The Blue Devils were unable to take over until the 11th point, where they challenged for a touch and won. The Pack struggled to regain the lead and trailed by seven on set point Duke. 

Set Four (18-25)

The Wolfpack struggled to gain momentum….