CLEMSON, S.C. – Clemson Volleyball (9-5, 0-2 ACC) welcomed 1,393 fans to Jervey Gym on Friday evening against NC State (11-1, 1-0 ACC) in conjunction with celebrating Alumni Night, marking the largest crowd in Jervey during Jackie Simpson Kirr’s time at the helm of the program. Additionally, Mckenna Slavik and Devan Taylor were celebrated for reaching 4,000 assists and 1,000 digs, respectively, over their career in front of the largest crowd since Clemson’s match against Virginia Tech in 2019. The record crowd watched the Tigers take on the Wolfpack for three-competitive sets, but ultimately, fell to NC State.
The Tigers’ defense finished with 19 digs in the first set behind six from Taylor and five from Slavik. Clemson strung together a run of five points behind blocks from Kate Simington and kills from Katie Hurta and Slavik but wasn’t able to maintain the offense in system to drop the opening set, 25-20.
Set two had the Tigers continuing to excel on defense with four blocks that included Simington being a key piece in three of them and Kennedy Wagner contributing on two. Clemson added another 12 digs in the set, but the Wolfpack tallied a .275 hitting percentage with 17 kills to take the set, 25-17.
Clemson made a push in the third behind three kills each from Mia McGrath, Azyah Dailey and Wagner, but the Tigers weren’t able to stop NC State’s .552 hitting percentage to drop the final set, 25-16.
Clemson finished the match with six blocks, with four coming at the assistance of Simington. Taylor finished with a team-high 13 digs, while Slavik tallied 17 assists. Dailey led the Tigers offensively with eight kills, followed by Wagner contributing six to bring her season total to 147, which leads Clemson on the year.
Up Next
The Tigers hit the road next week to continue ACC action traveling to Winston-Salem, N.C. to take on Wake Forest at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 29 on ACCNX.
