NC State softball secures first top-25 finish
After advancing to the NCAA Super Regionals for the first time in program history, the N.C. State softball team is ranked No. 19 in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) and USA Softball/ESPN.com Top-25 Final Polls to secure the program’s first top-25 finish.
The Wolfpack cruised through the NCAA Harrisonburg (Va.) Regional with a perfect 3-0 record, highlighted by a pair of wins against Fordham and a victory against host and previously 17th-ranked James Madison, to earn a berth in the NCAA Eugene (Ore.) Super Regional.
N.C. State finished its record-breaking 2015 campaign with a 38-22 record, the most wins for the Pack in head coach Shawn Rychcik’s three-year tenure and most for the program since 2007.
Men’s Basketball
Shaw: Joel Hopkins was introduced as head coach. Hopkins, a Bunn native, began his duties on June 1. He previously served as Shaw head coach from 2000 to 2002. In 2002, he led the team to its first ever CIAA Tournament Championship. Hopkins was a member of the school’s 1989 NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship team.
Women’s Basketball
N.C. State: The team will compete against Seton Hall and UAB as a part of the 2015 Cancun Challenge at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya this November. The Wolfpack will take on the Pirates on Nov. 26 and the Blazers on Nov. 27.
NCCU: L’Tona Lamonte was hired as assistant head coach. for the women’s basketball program on Tuesday. She served as an assistant coach at Belmont for the two past seasons. Lamonte also was director of basketball operations at N.C. State for four seasons, 2009 to 2013.
Swimming
UNC: Duncan Sherrard, former head swimming coach at Florida Southern and an All-America swimmer at Florida, has joined coach Rich DeSelm’s staff as an assistant coach.
Men’s Soccer
Campbell: Dustin Fonder has been named head coach, director of athletics Bob Roller announced. Fonder will take over the Fighting Camel program after guiding High Point University to school records for Big South Conference and overall wins during the last eight seasons.
Twice named Big South Conference Coach of the Year, Fonder led the Panthers to a 37-14-10 (.689) record in league play and a 73-49-17 overall (.586) in eight seasons. His team won the 2010 Big South regular season title with an 8-0-0 record and has earned the school’s first men’s soccer Division I national ranking.
St. Aug’s: Five home games on campus and a non-conference road encounter against Division I NCCU highlight the 2015 Saint Augustine’s football schedule.
This story was originally published June 9, 2015 at 6:15 PM with the headline "NC State softball secures first top-25 finish."