NC State volleyball looking to continue upward trajectory in 2024

NC State volleyball had a breakthrough campaign last fall inside Reynolds Coliseum. The Wolfpack won 22 matches, the first time the program had eclipsed 20 victories since 2017, and it logged its first-ever top-five win in the team’s history. 

But while the Wolfpack was able to go 22-7 with a top-45 RPI the entire season, it just missed the NCAA Tournament. Although NC State was on the wrong side of the selection committee’s bubble, the Wolfpack’s progress was encouraging for coach Luka Slabe, who is entering his fifth season in Raleigh. 

“They were extremely resilient, very gritty,” Slabe said. “We won matches where we didn’t play that beautifully, but we papercut teams to death.”

Now, as the Wolfpack turned the page towards a fresh season this fall, which begins at Creighton’s Bluejay Invitational this weekend in Omaha, Neb., a continued upward trend is what Slabe is looking to see from his program. 

Since he arrived in 2020, a COVID-19-shortened season, Slabe has seen growth from his team year over year. They won 16 matches in 2021 and 2022 before winning 22 last fall, the most by any Wolfpack team since it matched that total in 2012. 

Slabe, who owns a gold medal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a coach with Team USA, 

“The momentum matters,” Slabe said. “If there was a flat line, it would be, ‘OK, maybe we need to get a new coach or the coach needs to reassess his job.’ The trajectory post-COVID, is trending upwards. That’s what really, really matters. … If you continue trending long term, that’s what you want from your program.”

While Slabe is looking for the Pack to build off last season’s unprecedented success in Raleigh, the path has not gotten any easier. His team was able to grit out wins, which is what he is looking for from match to match, but the ACC has four teams ranked inside the top 15 this preseason. 

Though NC State’s season will have a tougher test in conference play with the addition of No. 5 Stanford and SMU received votes in the preseason poll, Slabe was confident his team has what it takes to continue to find ways to win. 

At the end of the day, that’s what he is looking for.

“I want us to be pushed, but when we’re pushed, I want us to win,” Slabe said. “I don’t want to cruise, we won’t cruise. I want to be challenged in every match where we can find solutions. But I want to win those matches because you’re building momentum, confidence in your team when you’re winning those scrappy, ugly matches.”

Winning is a trend Slabe and the Wolfpack program wants to see continue on the same trajectory. Does he know the Pack will win 22 matches again this fall? No. But Slabe hopes the team can repeat — or improve that total this season. 

The next step for the program is to be a routine NCAA Tournament threat. The Wolfpack has only been to the NCAA Tournament twice since 1987 — in 2012 and 2017. Slabe knows the ACC Championship is a goal on the horizon, but so are perennial trips to competing for a national title. 

As he laid out his vision for the next three to five years in Raleigh, the tournament was on the forefront of Slabe’s mind. NC State is a veteran-laden squad this fall, which will have to replace 12 outgoing seniors between this year and next and the Pack will become a very young program on the court moving forward.

Slabe is focused on getting his team reps within the NCAA Tournament, a different beast than the regular season. He helped BYU win the 2003 men’s title as a player, and now Slabe is in search of the same as a coach. But without the experience of playing on the big stage, it is a difficult task to lift the trophy at the end of the season. 

“No. 1, we gotta get there,” Slabe said. “And No. 2, we gotta make that a habit that we are in the tournament, that’s a standard. You come to NC State, you need to go to the tournament and it’s not like, ‘Wow, success’ anymore. It’s who we are.”

And as sustained success comes to the Wolfpack program, so will the fruits of that will follow. Slabe knows the higher-end recruits and the responsibility to accompany winning, and the Wolfpack is in search of its first back-to-back 20-win campaigns since the 2012 and 2013 seasons. 

But for now, Slabe is confident that his program is going in the right direction after it weathered the COVID-19 storm shortly after he first arrived at his office at Reynolds Coliseum. 

“Are we trending the right way? Everything signals that,” Slabe said. “I’m excited about this year, but I’m also excited about what we put together to be in a very good spot for the next four or five years.”