Volleyball falls to NC State to open weekend play

Friday, September 10

New Brunswick, N.J.

2:00 PM

Brown University

3-2,0-0Ivy League

North Carolina State

3-4,0-0ACC

NC State

Brown

Photo by: David Silverman Photography

Volleyball falls to NC State to open weekend play

9/10/2021 3:59:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Jilienne Widener led the way for the Brown offense with 10 kills against the Wolfpack.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – A double-double from Jilienne Widener was not enough to overcome a hot-hitting NC State team as Brown fell 3-0 in the first match of the weekend at Rutgers.

Widener posted her first double-double of the season with a team-high 10 kills and 10 digs. It was the third time Widener had finished with double-digit kills this year. Kate Sheire added eight kills and Sophia Miller finished the match with seven. Kristin Sellers guided the offense for Brown with 23 assists.

"We made an adjustment going in to the weekend to have two setters and three hitters at the net at all times," said head coach Ahen Kim. "At times it made us hard to defend and we were able to go on some stretches. We got a lot of hitters involved which was good."

Brown was held to just .174 hitting after hitting over .300 in its last two matches. On the flip side, NC State hit .345 with its top two hitters finishing over .400 and in double-digit kills.

"NC State was really patient and dug a lot of balls," said Kim. "They didn't force anything and when their favorite shot opened up they took it,"

The Brown defense was led by Victoria Vo who finished with a season-best 17 digs, reaching 10 digs for the fourth time in five games. Beau Vanderlaan tallied three blocks to lead the defense at the net.

In the first set, Brown jumped out to an early 5-2 lead after a 3-0 run that featured kills from Widener and Miller. After NC State tied the set, the Bears used a 5-0 run to take an 11-6 lead and remained up at 15-11 after Widener and Sheier produced back-to-back kills.

NC State battled back, taking a 21-19 lead before Zoe Ubamadu and Ada Agolli teamed up for a block to cut the lead to one. At that point, the Wolfpack scored four of the next five points to end the set 25-21.

Brown fell behind early in the second set 9-4 before Widener ended an NC State run with a kill. Later in the set, back-to-back kills from Miller pulled Brown back within one but NC State took three of the next four points. Down 20-15, Brown picked up a kill from Sheire and a block from the duo of Sheire and Ubamadu but NC State rattled off four points to earn set point. After a service error, the Wolfpack closed out set two 25-18.

Kills by Ubamadu, Sheire and Miller started Brown off with a 5-2 lead in the third and another kill by Miller pushed the lead to 9-5. Brown responded to an NC State run with kills by Vanderlaan and Widener but the Wolfpack took a 12-11 lead after three-straight points.

Another kill from Ubamadu and a block by Vanderlaan had Brown down 16-15 but that quickly changed to a 20-15 NC State lead that Brown was not able to overcome. The Bears managed to fight off three set points but ultimately fell 25-21 in the third set to lose the match 3-0.

Brown will be back in action on Saturday for two matches. The Bears will play NJIT at 10 a.m. before closing the weekend out against Rutgers at 5 p.m.