Duke ?ghts back to beat UNC

Nearly all 5,571 of the fans packed into Cameron Indoor Stadium thought it was over.

They had every reason to believe so.

The No. 14 North Carolina volleyball team — which suffered a 3-0 sweep at the hands of Duke in October — had taken a 2-1 set lead against its No. 15 foes in Durham. The scoreboard read 22-14 in UNC’s favor in the fourth set.

Three more points.

That’s all the Tar Heels needed to share the conference title with the Blue Devils and finish the regular season with a victory before heading to the NCAA Tournament, in which they would match up with California Friday in Wisconsin.

Minutes later, coach Joe Sagula stole a glimpse at the scoreboard — 23-19.

“I thought, ‘OK that was their run,’ he said.

‘“They got five points, and we’re still up. All we need is two points now.’’’

He was wrong.

The Blue Devils turned an eight point deficit into a 25-23 fourth set triumph, which propelled them to a five-set victory after claiming the final set 21-19.

“It was a rough loss. Bottom line,” Sagula said just two days after his team swept Wake Forest.

“It was a very rough loss. To be dominating them in the fourth set the way we were at 22-14, to lose that set.”

He struggled to finish his sentence — the utter disappointment evident in his shaky voice.

The Tar Heels claimed the first set 25-17, dropped the second 23-25 and clinched the third in a back and forth fashion before the fourth-set trauma ensued.

Redshirt freshman middle blocker Hayley McCorkle — who had 13 kills on the day — said the team must move on if it is to find success in the tournament, one of the team’s two goals for the season. The other one was to win the ACC Championship.

“The rule is at 12:00, you have to clear your mind. You have to have a short-term memory,” McCorkle said.

“We can no longer worry about our loss from last night. We just have to worry about our second part of the mission which is to be in the Sweet 16.”

But sophomore middle blocker Paige Neuenfeldt, who led the Tar Heels with 14 kills, said the defeat was one she’ll never be able to blank from her mind, one that will forever nag her regardless of how hard she tries to fight it.

“I’m probably going to have nightmares my whole life sleeping and thinking about that game,” she said.

A distressed Sagula agreed.

“It’s a really tough one to swallow. It definitely is … it’s gonna bother people,” he said.

“It’s gonna bother me for a lifetime.”

sports@dailytarheel.com