North Carolina volleyball coach Joe Sagula didn’t want to start out the team’s first weekend of ACC play with a bang.
Facing weaker teams in Maryland (12-3, 2-1 ACC) and Boston College (8-8, 0-3), Sagula decided to rest key starters Courtney Johnston and Cora Harms for the majority of the two games.
But the Tar Heels’ reserve players stepped up in a balanced attack that exploded, leading UNC to two dominant wins against Maryland and Boston College on Friday and Saturday, respectively, bringing its record to 12-4 overall and 3-0 in the ACC.
Senior Suzanne Haydel and sophomore Heather Henry led North Carolina’s attack during the weekend, posting double-digit kills and only six errors between the two outside hitters.
“We needed to get other people some opportunities in the match, and we did,” Sagula said. “The important thing was that we got some people the opportunity to rest a little bit, some people the opportunity to contribute and develop our depth.”
The success of reserve players came at the same time as a change in offensive strategy during the match against Boston College.
The Tar Heels exploited their height advantage at the net, setting their attack where opponents’ blockers were shorter.
“Our strategy was to set a lot more to our right side to Heather Henry because their left-side blockers were really small,” Sagula said. “We didn’t want to overload and overset our left-side hitters because we used them a lot last night and we’re trying to have a little more balance.”
The 6-foot-1 Henry and 5-foot-11 Haydel thrived in the new system, teaming up for a combined 22 kills and a .367 hitting percentage for the match.
