NC played well against the B team and beat Walton in three sets, losing the first set (23-25) and winning the second (25-18) and final set (17-15). Senior setter Turner Markwalter scored seven consecutive points in the second set on serves, earning multiple high fives from his teammates. Senior Malik Balogun made an amazing hit, with the ball striking the floor at the 10 ft line— a move he repeated three times throughout the night.

“I feel like the game went well, the first set was a little shaky, but we corrected our 2nd and 3rd sets to pull away for the victory, giving us a little bit of confidence going into the game with their best team,” Markwalter said.

The second game challenged NC’s orange team, and although they pulled themselves together after a challenging first set, they ended up losing the match because of their rocky start. A senior on Walton’s A team, Kyle Ferguson, recently signed with the Belmont Abbey College Crusaders, and plays an integral part on Walton’s team. He consistently made incredible hits, scoring on NC at will, much like Balogun in the previous game. Markwalter sparked a conversation with Ferguson after the game and explained that, much to Ferguson’s surprise, the majority of NC’s players have not played volleyball competitively before this season.

“I think they’re showing great improvement week by week and their sportsmanship is great. They played hard and were willing to learn new things under a high pressure situation,” assistant coach and senior Maya Hercy said.