UNC’s push carried over into the fourth set, shutting down the Sooners 25-18 to finish the match.
Sophomore outside hitter Tatiana Durr said after the third set, the message in the huddle was to keep Oklahoma from gaining more momentum .
“Oklahoma served really tough in the third set. They got us off our groove a little bit,” Durr said. “In the fourth set, we really emphasized coming back out, getting good passes and putting swings away immediately and not let them go on any runs.”
Against West Virginia, UNC had little trouble. The Mountaineers never led and only managed to tie the game once in the second set.
Similar to its match with Oklahoma, the Tar Heels had a 2-0 lead going into the fourth set. Sagula said the message in the locker room did not change.
“We could’ve pressed the recording from last night,” Sagula said. “I think the difference was we put enough good things together and had some big blocks.”
The Tar Heels are now 9-1 and winners of seven straight games.
Senior outside hitter Lauren McAdoo said she knows the team can have a special year. She added that the team doesn’t pay attention to what other people think of them.
Instead, they’ll have tunnel vision until the postseason.
“We’re trying not to put so much emphasis on preseason this year because we put a lot of emphasis on preseason last year and didn’t finish in postseason like we wanted to,” McAdoo said. “So we’re trying to focus on maintaining this effort the entire season and mostly a lot of the focus in December, when it matters the most.”
sports@dailytarheel.com
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