No. 23 Volleyball Bounces Back on the Road
RALEIGH, N.C. – Behind a balanced attack, No.23 Miami volleyball bounced back to defeat North Carolina State, 3-1, on Sundayinside Reynolds Coliseum. UM won by the set scores of 25-17, 22-25, 25-21 and25-23 to move back into a tie atop the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.
TheHurricanes improved to 21-4 on the season and 13-2 in the ACC, while NC Statedropped to 19-7 and 9-6.
ThreeCanes registered double-digit kills on the afternoon, led by a match-high 14from sophomore middle blocker Alexis Mourning. Junior right side Alex Johnsonpicked up her seventh double-double of the season with 12 kills and 12 digs,while classmate Taylor Hollins had 11 kills on the outside. Miami hit .286 as ateam in the match.
Defensively,junior libero Ryan Shaffer led the efforts with a match-high 20 digs, as UMtotaled 66 on the day to hold the hosts to a .146 hitting percentage. Seniorsetter Nrithya Sundararaman had 40 assists.
Startingstrong, Miami hit .306 in the first set and took advantage of nine NC Stateerrors to take the opener. After going ahead 2-1, the Canes built a lead of asmany as eight points and cruised from there to seize the momentum. Leaf putdown a cross-court kill to clinch the set, as UM has won the opener in eachmatch following a loss this season.
TheWolfpack rebounded in the second to even the match behind a .425 hittingpercentage. UM went up 13-10, but NC State went on an 11-4 run to swing themomentum and tie it at one.
Followingthe break, Miami went up 7-3 in the third, but NCSU fought back to tie thescore at nine. The teams went back-and-forth from there with neither side ableto gain more than a two-point advantage until UM went up 21-18 on a block byMourning and sophomore middle blocker Emani Sims. The set ended on perfectlyplaced tip shot by Johnson down the line to give the Canes the 2-1 set lead.
Itlooked as though Miami would run away with the fourth with a 10-5 lead, butNCSU chipped away to eventually tie it at 23. Following a UM timeout, Mourning,who had six kills in the set, slammed a ball down the middle and the Wolfpackcommitted an attack error to end the match and give the Hurricanes their sixroad win of the season.
UMswept the season series with NC State and now leads the all-time series, 16-1.The Wolfpack entered the weekend with the most home wins in the country (14).
TheCanes will return to the state of North Carolina next weekend to take on WakeForest and Duke on Friday and Saturday. UM defeated both of those teams inCoral Gables earlier this season.
Single-gametickets to home volleyball matches are available for as low as $3. Call1-800-GO-CANES to order your tickets today. For all the latest information onMiami Hurricanes volleyball, follow the official Twitter feed, @CanesVB, or”Like Us” on Facebook at facebook.com/MiamiHurricanes.
