Tar Heels down N.C. State

RALEIGH — A raucous crowd came out to watch the North Carolina women's volleyball team (10-8 4-3 ACC) take down rival N.C. State in four sets Tuesday (25-14 25-16 23-25 25-16).

UNC dominated the first two sets struggled and lost the third  but came back dominant again in the fourth set.

The Tar Heels regained the lead at 13-12 in the fourth set after forcing two consecutive attack errors by N.C. State" and never looked back as they cruised to a fourth ACC win.

""We played really" really well early and I knew that they would come on" coach Joe Sagula said. And they did a good job in that third game.""

""I wanted to see us do better in that game" take the challenge win that game" so we still have some work to do.""

 Senior Lauren Prussing led the team in kills with 16 on 52 total attacks while Suzanne Haydel finished with 15 kills on 46 total attacks.

Heather Brooks led the team with an attack percentage of .524 with 12 kills and" more importantly only one error.

She said beating rival N.C. State (9-13" 3-4) on the road was an important confidence boost for the Tar Heels.

""They've won a lot of their games at home"" Brooks said of the Wolfpack.

So I think being able to stop them in their gym after coming off that loss that we had means a lot.""

The Tar Heels have struggled to win on the road (4-7)" including three straight away losses to start the season.

But they have  been a force  at home handing conference leader Virginia Tech its only conference loss. In fact" UNC only lost their first home matchup  against Virginia on Friday.

Sagula said winning matches on the road is going to be crucial for his team this year.

""Any time we can get a road win" it's going to be a great advantage for us. We feel pretty good about playing at home but we've got to try to see if we can get a couple more" Sagula said.

But I think winning on the road is just going to be important because it creates a different type of confidence for your team.""

A crowd of more than 500 came out to cheer the home team on in Reynolds Coliseum" the longtime home court of N.C. State basketball.

The court was sectioned off into a quarter of its total size to provide a louder environment and allow the fans to be more of a seventh man.

The Tar Heels fell behind 15-14 in the third set and weren't able to recover. North Carolina couldn't close the sweep out and they allowed the Wolfpack back into the match.

 Players said they were able to block out the crowd" and instead  blamed their errors on mental mistakes.

""I don't know how many people are really affected by the environment"" Brooks said.

I think more of it is mental errors and being able to come out of a slump.""

The Tar Heels said they were hopeful after putting themselves over the .500 mark in the conference"" but Sagula said his team needs to work on staying consistent.

""How to sustain a level — that's what we're learning to do.""



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