Duke's defense stifles UNC women's volleyball

As sophomore outside hitter Emily McGee rose to take her shot at the Duke blocking front, she thought she saw an opening between the hands of the blockers.

She thought wrong.

McGee beamed her shot right at the hands of the 6-foot-plus Duke blockers. What she thought would be a kill ricocheted off the blockers’ hands and hit her in the face as she fell to the ground at Carmichael Arena, where the Tar Heels held a 12-1 record before Saturday night’s loss against Duke.

McGee picked herself off the ground and headed back to a hushed team huddle with an embarrassed smile.

It was that kind of night for the Tar Heels.

The North Carolina volleyball team struggled offensively and defensively at the net, failing to get its shots through blockers and missing key blocking assignments against opponents Wake Forest and Duke.

“We trained all week to try and hit high over the block, but we decided that we thought we could hit the ball through the block tonight,” UNC coach Joe Sagula said. “We obviously found out that ten times tonight that we couldn’t do that.”

The Tar Heels’ opponents had a combined 34 block assists to UNC’s 14 this weekend, and UNC recorded just a .145 hitting percentage during the two matches.

With 5-foot-10 McGee at net, the Tar Heels are used to playing as the short team and tend to rely on quick sets to throw off opponents’ defensive schemes.

But Wake Forest and Duke proved to be quicker on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The two teams were able to set up faster on defense and prevent North Carolina’s shots from penetrating.

“It was really frustrating because you would hit around it, and then they’d be there,” McGee said.

“We thought the balls would fall, some more balls would drop — our tips and rolls shots weren’t working, they picked everything up. They’re definitely much quicker.”

The Tar Heels were able to squeak out a 3-1 win against Wake Forest despite recording 28 hitting errors.

But the Duke game was another story.

The Tar Heels were held to their third-lowest hitting percentage of the year with .121 in the 3-0 loss to the Blue Devils.

While the Tar Heels were able to rally defensively against the Demon Deacons behind defensive specialist Kaylie Gibson, Duke’s two-headed monster of speed and height proved too much for the Tar Heels on defense.

“They run a very fast offense, so that’s what gives them an advantage,” senior Christine Vaughen said. “They usually have about two quicks or middle hit slides running at the same time, so that makes for a very fast offense.”

All-ACC selection Becci Burling led a Duke middle hitting unit that posted a .342 hitting percentage, its third-highest percentage of the year.

Duke out-hit UNC by 15 kills and coughed up only nine errors.

“We never put Duke in an uncomfortable situation and put pressure on them and felt like they could make a mistake,” Sagula said.

“They had all the freedom.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.