University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
14-1
North Carolina State
11-1
Volleyball Drops 1st Match of 2015 vs. NC State
September 19, 2015 | Volleyball
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Tennessee Volunteers lost their first match of the volleyball season to NC State 3-0 (25-22, 27-25, 25-22) in the finals of the NC State DoubleTree Classic on Saturday night.
NC State (11-1) pulled out three sets that came down to the wire. Tennessee (14-1) had two set points in the second set but did not convert in its first loss of the season. The start had been the best in program history.
"It's always good to put yourselves in the opportunity to win championships; it doesn't always happen," Tennessee head coach Rob Patrick said. "We came across a very very determined NC State team. They played fantastic defense. We made a little more hitting errors than we normally do, and you can't do that against a really good team."
The match ends the non-conference schedule for Tennessee. The Vols open SEC play on the road against Auburn and Georgia next weekend.
Junior Raina Hembry and senior Lexi Dempsey were named to the all-tournament team.
Hembry saved her best for the tournament finale, recording a team-leading 13 kills and six blocks in the loss. She averaged 3.29 kills and 1.29 blocks per set. Dempsey led the way once again at setter with 9.12 assists per set and six total blocks in the three matches.
Tennessee trailed by as many as six points early but jumped on a 5-0 run to pull within a point at 17-16. The Vols eventually tied the set at 20-20 on a block by Erica Treiber and Stephanie Buss. NC State retook the lead and won five of the final seven points of the set to win 25-20.
The second set was every bit as close as the first. The Vols strung together three points to take a 23-21 lead and earn set point two points later with a kill by Hembry to make it 24-22. NC State fought off the two set points and set up a set point of its own at 25-24.
Service errors plagued the Wolfpack the entire second set, and they committed their seventh of the set to spoil the first set point opportunity. Two points later, however, NC State won the set 27-25 on an attack error by Kanisha Jimenez.
NC State went on a short run late in the third set to close the match. Tennessee took a 21-20 lead on an attack error by the Wolfpack, but NC State won five of the last six points to clinch at 25-22.
"One thing I was happy with was that we were in every single set," Patrick said. "We had opportunities to win the second set, and we didn't play our best. That was something that was on us. I feel like if we could have cleaned up on our side of the net, we would have been able to extend the match further."
The Vols had entered the match 14-0, the best start to a season in program history in the NCAA era. The only better start was 20-0 in 1973 when women's volleyball was governed by the AIAW.
Improved serving was evident in the three matches for Tennessee. The team recorded 12 aces against Hampton on Friday -- the third-best match total since 2001 -- and averaged 2.33 per set over the weekend. They entered the tournament averaging just 1.1 aces per set
The Vols had four aces and four service errors on Saturday night. NC State had one ace and 12 service errors.
