NC State volleyball begins season with back-to-back matches at Duke

The NC State volleyball team will begin its 2020 campaign with back-to-back matches on the road against the Duke Blue Devils inside the legendary Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina. The season opener is on Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. and the second game is on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m.

In 2019, NC State fell to Duke 3-2 after winning the first two sets in the only matchup between the two teams of the season. The last three matches between Duke and NC State have all gone to five sets, and the Wolfpack has won three of the last five matches against the Blue Devils.

The Wolfpack will be playing its first two games under new head coach Luka Slabe, who spent the last two years as an assistant for the U.S. women’s volleyball national team. Slabe inherits a program seeking to make an NCAA tournament appearance for the first time since 2017.

Last season, the Wolfpack finished with a disappointing 11-19 overall record and a 6-12 conference record, coming in at 10 out of 15 ACC teams in the final standings. 2019 was the first year since 2010 that the Pack had finished with a losing overall record. The team hopes to have a bounce back campaign in what will be a highly unusual 2020 season, playing a total of eight games, all of which are against ACC opponents.

The Blue Devils are also coming off a down season, finishing with an 12-19 overall record and a 5-13 conference record in 2019, coming in at 12 in the end-of-year ACC standings. They are playing this season under head coach Jolene Nagel, who has been the head coach at Duke since 1999.

One of the few areas where the Blue Devils were good last season was blocking, as they finished fourth in the ACC in blocks per set. They return two of the ACC’s best blockers from last season, Lily Cooper and Lizzie Fleming, both of whom were in the league’s top 10 in blocks per set. 

The Blue Devils were also a good digging team last season, finishing sixth in the conference in digs per set. They return Mackenzie Cole, who was fifth in the conference last season in digs per set.

Another notable returning player for Duke is Ade Owokoniran, who led the team last year in kills.

The Wolfpack is led by its star player, senior opposite hitter Melissa Evans, who was named Second Team All-ACC last season and was third in the league in kills.

Like Duke, NC State was also a good digging team last season, finishing ahead of the Blue Devils at third in the conference in digs per set. The Wolfpack returns its leader in digs from last season, redshirt junior defensive specialist/libero Kaylee Frazier, who was second in the conference in digs per set.

After having down seasons last year, both Duke and NC State will look to start 2020 on the right foot. These first two games will be an opportunity for each to show how much they have improved since last season.

The first game will be broadcasted on the ACC Network and the second game will be broadcasted on ACC Network Extra.