Volleyball: Volleyball suffers consecutive losses

North Carolina volleyball coach Joe Sagula took a seat in the stands of an emptying Smith Center, tightening his lips and shaking his head. He was trying to come away with something positive from the match he had just coached.

UNC fell to Clemson in five sets Saturday, 25-13, 23-25, 25-19, 20-25, 11-15. The loss dropped the Tar Heels to a tie for fifth place in the ACC as the Tigers passed them in the standings.

“I’m kind of at a loss for words on this one,” Sagula said. “This is a sad loss for us, and for me, reason is, it takes us out of the ACC race.”

UNC (11-12, 7-5 ACC) also lost its match Friday against Georgia Tech, 25-19, 20-25, 22-25, 18-25.

“With five losses in conference, we’ve got to win a lot more matches,” Sagula said. “We’ve only got eight to go. And even if we win all eight matches right now, I don’t think that’s going to be enough for an NCAA tournament berth.”

The weekend started on a high note as the Tar Heels beat the Yellow Jackets in the first set. Senior outside hitter Branagan Fuller dominated with eight kills in that set. At this point, it seemed as though UNC could beat and overtake the No. 3 team in the ACC standings.

But when Ga. Tech took the court again after the first break, the Yellow Jackets made an adjustment to Fuller’s attack. The Yellow Jackets anticipated sets to Fuller more easily and were able to contain her to 10 kills in the final three sets.

“In the second game, I saw a bigger block, and they shifted more out to the line,” Fuller said. “And I just didn’t make the adjustment that I needed to make.”

Immediately after Friday’s loss, Sagula spent 20 minutes talking to his team in an attempt to prepare them against Clemson the next day.

Early in Saturday’s match, Sagula’s talk seemed to have done the trick. The Tar Heels’ serve receive was especially sharp in the first set, allowing it to win 84 percent of points served by the Tigers.

UNC went on to lose in a close second set but won the third by following the same formula they used in the first set. In both sets, early streaks of points on sophomore libero Kaylie Gibson’s serve gave the Tar Heels an early advantage.

“I felt really confident with my serve, so it took them out of system and gave us an easy ball to deal with, and we got the points,” Gibson said. “So I just kept going on a run.”

UNC had a chance to put the match away in the fourth set. But the team’s passing broke down late in the final two sets, Sagula said.

“When we’re down, you have to be confident in serve receive and be ready to pass the ball, or it’s not going to go exactly where you want it to,” Gibson said.

After the loss, Sagula said his team needs to learn how to finish off matches.

 “When things are going well, or when things are tight, who’s going to make a good play?” Sagula said. “Who’s going to step up? We didn’t have that happen.”



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