CHARLESTON, S.C. - ACC program N.C. State defeated the College of Charleston 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-21, 25-20) in the final match of the Hampton Inn & Suites West Ashley Invitational at TD Arena Saturday night.
Despite four sets that remained close throughout, the Wolfpack (3-0) were able to pull away in the final points at each juncture and dash the Cougars' (2-1) hopes of a tournament title on opening weekend.
Junior Darcy Dorton led the Cougars with 19 kills, while Sloane White tallied 10 kills. Both players were named to the All-Tournament team after the match. Dorton finished with 58 kills and 36 digs for the tournament while White had 39 kills and an attack percentage of .337. Emily Shelton led the Cougar defense with 19 digs. Junior Emily Neideffer tied a new career high with eight kills for CofC.
N.C. State's setter Megan Cyr was named tournament MVP as she made 44 assists and eight digs for the Wolfpack in the final match. Dariyan Hopper led NCSU with 15 kills and a .364 attack percentage, landing a spot on the All-Tournament team. The Wolfpack's libero, Alexa Micek, also made the All-Tournament team as she had 15 digs in the final match.
N.C. State was powerful at the net, tallying 17 team blocks, including seven from Meredith Richardson. The Wolfpack hit .265 for the match, edging CofC's .219 mark.
College of Charleston jumped out to a 13-7 lead in the first set after a big kill from Dorton. However, the Wolfpack rallied back with an 11-2 run to lead 18-15. The Cougars never pulled closer and Richardson gave the set to NCSU with a kill.
Neither team was able to go on an extended run in the second set with leads never building beyond two or three points. The Cougars eventually built a three-point lead after a Neideffer kill and two errors from Hopper put CofC up for good at the end, 25-20.
Despite outhitting CofC, .314-.121, in the third set, both teams were tied at 18 after four NCSU service errors. After a kill from Dorton gave CofC a 19-18 lead, the Cougars committed four straight errors that eventually gave the Wolfpack a 23-19 advantage. NCSU won the go-ahead third set 25-21 on a kill from Hopper.
The fourth set played very similarly to the third with both teams clawing for every point and eventually tying at 20. The Wolfpack took advantage of two Cougar ball-handling errors to go up 22-20 and the momentum carried through the final points as N.C. State won 25-20.
College of Charleston will continue at home next weekend in the Courtyard Charleston North Classic with North Florida, Memphis and the Slovenian national team coming to town.
