RALEIGH — North Carolina volleyball coach Joe Sagula said the Tar Heels will go into their second match of the weekend Saturday against Ohio a little wounded.
The Tar Heels (8-2) fell to conference rival N.C. State Friday night at Reynolds Coliseum in a match that saw strong offensive play from the Wolfpack and weaker hitting and blocking from the Tar Heels.
“We were hitting too much on the edge of the court instead of just trying to hit the ball in the middle and that’s how State was staying in it,” Sagula said.
“They were just not making errors. We were just taking big swings, and we were missing a lot and were making consecutive errors in a row.”
The Tar Heels ended the night with a slim ten blocks and had 31 attack errors, falling to the Wolfpack 23-25, 16-25, 25-21, 17-25.
“It was a surprise to me. I thought we would do a better job,” Sagula said on his team’s blocking.
The Tar Heels also suffered with serving — on both sides of the net — struggling to get their own serves in as well as return those of the Wolfpack.
Senior outside hitter Emily McGee said that the most frustrating aspect of the night was the fact that the Tar Heels had prepared all week for N.C. State and that the Wolfpack did everything the Tar Heels expected them to do. The Tar Heels just beat themselves.
Sagula said going into Saturday’s game, the plan is simple — be more focused and play a better game.
“We’re not talking about winning, we’re talking about how to play better,” he said. “The loss was disappointing, but how we played tonight was the most disappointing — too many unforced errors.”
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