Patience pays off in win vs. Miami

Back at home, the North Carolina volleyball team made winning look easy. Well, sort of.

The Tar Heels (11-6, 6-1 in the ACC) defeated Florida State (4-10, 1-4) and Miami (8-6, 3-3) this weekend in Carmichael Auditorium.

Both the Seminoles and the Hurricanes put up a tough fight against the Tar Heels, with each match ending in four games.

Friday, the Tar Heels started the match with a 30-28 win against the Seminoles in the first game. And UNC played another extremely close second game, this one coming down to the last serve, in a 33-31 victory for the 'Noles.

But after halftime, the Tar Heels came back ready to show their 200-plus fans they would not be shown up in their auditorium, as they won games three and four, 30-21, and 30-27, respectively.

"It's great being home because we haven't been really home in a while," said sophomore Ashley Board. "We were 'home' at the Dean Dome, but to be back in Carmichael is awesome."

Senior Taylor Rayfield had a career high 35 digs against Florida State, only one shy of the school record for digs in a single game.

"It's really easy to focus on all the negative things you do and remember all the digs you've missed or whatever you did wrong," she said. "But to see that, it really makes you feel better about yourself, and it makes you work that much harder to get to the school record."

The Tar Heels had an equally difficult run with the Hurricanes, as Miami took the first game, 30-23. But North Carolina came back to win the next three games, 30-22, 30-28, and 30-22.

Playing challenging teams such as Florida State and Miami, North Carolina had to keep its morale up and its skills in check in order to get the close wins.

"Our team in general is a pretty patient team," Rayfield said.

"We're used to being down and fighting our way back. We just try to help each other out and work with each other. We work as a team and that is how we're going to get through the rest of the season."

Coach Joe Sagula was proud of they way upperclassmen like Rayfield played and kept the team unified.

"The thing about these matches this weekend, is that we stayed together, we were patient with each other," Sagula said. "When the teams would go on runs in points we never really panicked. We knew we could come back slowly, and we did."

But upperclassmen weren't the only players holding the team together. Freshman Stephanie Jansma started her first weekend at home, replacing senior setter McKenzie Byrd, and contributed greatly to the Tar Heel victories, with four kills against Florida State and an essential game-four kill against Miami.

Despite the big ACC wins, Sagula still is stressing the importance of his team doing well at home and staying on its toes.

"These are two great victories for us," he said. "We really want to do well at home, and we knew we had two tough opponents who we lost to twice last year. We're really determined to come out and play well."

 

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.