UNC volleyball sweeps Duke on the road

DURHAM — In the 2013 regular-season finale, the North Carolina volleyball team lost a five-set thriller against Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium after winning the first set.

And on Sunday, the No. 11 Tar Heels were once again up 1-0 against No. 21 Duke. But this time, UNC dug its heels in.

UNC (15-2, 6-1 ACC) swept the Blue Devils (25-23, 26-24, 25-20) to cap off an undefeated weekend in which it also defeated N.C. State 3-0 at Reynolds Coliseum on Friday.

Going into the match against Duke (15-4, 7-1 ACC), the message from Coach Joe Sagula was clear — forget about last season.

“We tried to say this is a different year, different team,” Sagula said.

“The more we could forget about last year the better for us. The key thing in every match we play is knowing that we have to play tough at the end and (the victory against Duke) proved a lot to us.”

Senior Ece Taner said a slight burning feeling still remained from last year’s defeat in Durham and that she expected the match to be close, so the focus was to finish.

And that’s exactly what the Tar Heels did.

UNC ended the first set on a 6-1 run and the third set on a quick 3-0 run.

“We expected the sets to go either way,” Taner said.

“We were mentally prepared for it to go five sets or just know that the sets would be really close. We were just focusing on the last points of every game.”

Similar to the 2013 matchup in Cameron Indoor, the match was back and forth. Last year, there were 29 ties and 10 lead changes. On Sunday, the lead exchanged hands 13 times and was tied 30 times.

Junior Jordyn Schnabl recorded her first double-double of the year with 17 assists and 14 digs. After UNC went up 2-0, she said the message in the locker room was to maintain the intensity.

“One of our goals is to win set three and come out fired up,” Schnabl said.

“We didn’t want to get complacent and get fired up for just that set. We expected a battle. We wanted to fight, and we wanted it to be challenging, and it was, but we came out on top.”

When matches are tight like the last two versus Duke, Sagula admitted that nerves can start acting up. But he prefers to stay optimistic.

“I always think positive as the sets go on, but it’s not over until that last ball hits the floor,” Sagula said.

“It’s nerve-wracking, but I’m always thinking we are going to make a positive play. You have to.”

And for the Tar Heels on Sunday, their optimism led to victory.

sports@dailytarheel.com