Heels take win against ACC No. 2 'Canes

It's not every day that a referee issues a yellow card at the Smith Center.

But that's just what happened on Thursday to Miami coach Nicole Welch called for arguing near the end of the third set in the North Carolina women's volleyball team's match against the Hurricanes.

And Welch's and her players' frustration was just what the Tar Heels needed to pull out the victory in four sets 25-23 23-25 25-21" 25-18.

""There was one point when they called a timeout" and I told the team ‘That's exactly what we needed. You guys have finally gotten them pissed off" great job.'"" UNC coach Joe Sagula said. ""And I told them"" ‘Stay angry. Stay emotional.'""

In a match that would all but determine the ACC champions" both teams played accordingly" with scrappiness characterizing the play on both sides of the net.

""It was a really tight match. We knew that we had to win" and Miami wanted to win senior setter Stephanie Jansma said.

The atmosphere heated up in the third set after the teams had split the first two games.

What were perceived as several blown calls on each side of the net had both benches shouting at the referees in an important conference matchup.

By the third game when the officiating got a little bit uneven it pissed our team off Sagula said. That kind of woke us up and woke up the monster in us" and that was the best thing that could've happened.""

UNC (20-9" 14-4 ACC) went on to win the third set and cruised to victory in set four.

Amidst the shouting match junior middle hitter Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland emerged as the dominant force for the Tar Heels" recording 15 kills in 33 attempts.

""We came out a little nonchalant" maybe and it almost seemed like we were just playing not like we were fighting for anything Hanson-Tuntland said.

So once the refs really pushed our last button" then we really turned it on.""

Fellow junior middle hitter Christine Vaughen and redshirt freshman right-side hitter Courtney Johnston also stepped up their play with seven and nine kills"" respectively.

""Our passing was really good."" Jansma said. ""So I was able to find Ingrid"" and she was doing a good job of being in rhythm.""

It was Jansma who assisted the majority of those kills"" taking the lion's share of the sets late in the match after splitting time with freshman setter Erica Behm in the early goings.

""Steph had her stuff" Sagula said. She was just in a good flow and Erica was not as much in the flow. Steph was on so we stayed with her a little more" and you just kind of go to hot hands. She had the hot hands tonight.""



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