The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/846301
154 ■ THE WOLFPACKER Johnny Piedmonte BASEBALL When the Wolfpack surged down the stretch, winning 13 of its final 15 regular-season games to make the NCAA Tournament and nearly reach the Super Regionals, the ace leading the way was Piedmonte. He finished the year 7-0 on the mound with a 2.77 earned run average in 15 games, including nine starts. He surrendered just 49 hits in 61 2/3 innings and struck out 42 batters while walking 21. This season was a storybook ending for Piedmonte. The 6-8 right-hander had missed three years of baseball dating back to his high school senior season at Hough High in Cornelius, N.C., with Tommy John surgery, and he did not debut at NCSU until 2015 as a redshirt sophomore. These five seniors are among those who have completed their Wolfpack careers and left their marks on the field of play. Soren Dahl MEN'S SWIMMING The Denmark native has been on quite a ride since the spring of 2016, when he helped the NC State 400 free relay win the first relay national title in ACC history. In the summer, he qualified for the Olympics on the 4x200 free- style relay for Denmark. Then during his senior season, he captured a pair of individual All-America honors, finish- ing seventh in the 200 freestyle and 16th in the 200 individual medley at the NCAA Championships. He was the anchor on the 800 freestyle relay team that set a meet and U.S. Open record en route to win- ning the national championship. Dahl also swam on the 400 medley and 400 freestyle relays that garnered All-America mention. Martina Frantova WOMEN'S TENNIS In two years after transferring in from Mississippi State, Fran- tova made a significant impact on a resurgent NC State wom- en's tennis program. After earning second-team All-ACC honors a year ago, this season she teamed with freshman Anna Rogers to become the first doubles tandem in Wolf- pack history to move past the first round of the NCAA Doubles Championship. The duo fin- ished the year ranked No. 12, the highest end- of-year ranking in school history. Frantova was ranked as high as No. 30 dur- ing the season in singles action and defeated six ranked competitors, including No. 79 Alyssa Tobita of Oregon in the first round of the NCAA Championships to help the Pack reach the second round before falling to fifth- ranked Georgia. Maggie Speaks VOLLEYBALL Speaks concluded her career as one of the best setters in NC State volleyball history. She had the third most assists (1,148) in the ACC in 2016, and her 3,240 career assists are the second most in program history during the rally scoring era. During the season, Speaks notched 15 double-doubles with assists and digs and was third on the squad with 288 digs. Her 64 assists against SMU set a school record for the most in a single match in the rally score era. Sam Speno WRESTLING After redshirting in 2015-16, Speno returned to the lineup as NCSU's primary wrestler at 149 pounds and went 22-10 overall, which tied for the third most wins on the team. His seven wins over ranked opponents were the second most behind only junior Kevin Jack, who finished third at the NCAA Championships and had 10 ranked victories. — Matt Carter Johnny Piedmonte, a 6-8 right-hander, developed into NC State's ace in his final season, posting a 7-0 record and 2.77 ERA over nine starts and six relief appearances. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP SENIOR SALUTES