The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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MAY 2019 ■ 39 country. The men have won five straight ACC titles and have placed fourth at the NCAA Champion- ships to earn a podium finish each of the last four seasons. The women have taken the ACC crown two of the past three years and have finished top 10 at nationals in three of the past four seasons. Wrestling Before: After winning three ACC titles in four years between 2001-04, the Pack had just one (2007) since and its best finish at the NCAA Championships since 2000 was 18th in 2009. After: Pat Popolizio was hired in 2012 and turned NC State into a wrestling power once again. The Pack has won two of the past four ACC titles and in 2018 tied for fourth at the NCAA Championships, which tied for the ACC's best finish ever, as part of its school-re- cord six straight top-20 national placements. Women's Soccer Before: Between 1998 and 2009, NC State had a total of 15 ACC wins. It had not made the NCAA Tournament since 1996. After: Steve Springthorpe was fired in 2012 and replaced by Tim Santoro. After going through the growing pains with a 2-31 ACC record in three years under Santoro, the Pack broke through in 2016 with a Sweet 16 appearance. Over the past three seasons, NC State has gone 37-21-8 overall and 13-13-4 in the powerhouse ACC, been to three straight NCAA Tournaments and reached the Sweet 16 twice, including last fall. Men's Soccer Before: NC State had been to just three NCAA Tournaments between 1994 and 2009. The Pack had just two .500 or better ACC records during that span. After: Yow replaced George Tarantini with Kelly Findley, but Findley struggled to turn the corner. He was let go and George Kiefer was hired in 2017. In Kiefer's first year, the Pack went 3-3-2 in the ACC and returned to the NCAA Tour- nament for the first time since 2009. NC State returned to the big dance last fall and made it to the second round, winning a game in the event for the first time since 1994. It marked the Pack's first back-to-back tournament appearances since going to three straight from 1990-92. Men's Tennis Before: Jon Choboy was the head coach, hav- ing taken over in 2003. He led the Pack to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in 2007, but that was one of just two NCAA appearances and the last before Yow arrived. After: Choboy made the NCAA Tournament four straight years from 2012-15, but after miss- ing it in 2016 and 2017, he was replaced by Kyle Spencer. Under Spencer, the Pack has now made it to two straight NCAA Tournaments and this spring it reached the ACC Tournament semifinals for the first time in program history. Women's Tennis Before: The Pack had not finished .500 in the ACC since 1995. After: Simon Earnshaw was hired in time for the 2015 season and has turned around the program. The Pack has set a record with four straight NCAA Tournament appearances and achieved its highest national ranking ever this spring at No. 9 after going 11-3 in the ACC. Earn- shaw's 33 ACC wins in five years is one off his predecessor Hans Olsen's tally in 13 seasons. Volleyball Before: From 2000-09, NC State had won more than one ACC game in a season only once (2008 with three wins) and was considered the door- mat of the conference. After: NC State broke through with an 8-12 league mark in 2011, and then it went 12-8 a year later and made the NCAA Tournament. Af- ter slipping in 2014 and 2015, Linda Hampton- Keith was hired and in her first three years she has led the Pack to a 37-21 ACC record and at least a .500 mark in the league all three sea- sons. Her 2017 squad won the program's first- ever NCAA Tournament game. Softball Before: After winning the ACC Tournament in 2007 and making a second straight NCAA Regional, head coach Lisa Navas and the Pack had three straight losing conference records and missed postseason play every year. After: Navas endured two more seasons like the previous three before being replaced by Shawn Rychcik, who in his first three years led NC State to an ACC title in 2013, three NCAA postseason ap- pearances and in 2015 the program's first-ever Su- per Regional. Rychcik's program fell off after that and he was replaced by Jennifer Patrick-Swift for this season. AFTER "A legacy more of people thinking bigger when they get here as coaches, thinking bigger than what NC State's done before. I think she created a standard of not being okay with just being mediocre. I think before she got here there was too much — and I'm an alum saying this and this doesn't make me feel good to say — but I feel like NC State got into a comfort zone of just being okay. Her legacy is she came in and challenged us to want more and to think bigger. I think that's the biggest legacy that she leaves behind." ■ Swimming head coach Braden Holloway on Yow's impact (Technician) PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN