Buzz Lightyear, Superwoman and an Angry Bird were all in attendance to watch the No. 9 North Carolina volleyball team sweep Miami 3-0. But there was one person who, unusually, wasn't on the court to see the action — Coach Joe Sagula.
Due to being ejected during the Georgia Tech game after a heated argument with the referees, Sagula was not allowed to coach his team as it took on the Hurricanes. But the Tar Heels pressed on without their head coach on the sideline, and assistant head coach Eve Rackham stepped in to coach them to victory.
“We wanted him to be there of course,” Rackham said. “He’s as important to this team as anything. And so it was definitely not ideal not to have him, but I thought the kids responded well. And that’s one of the nice things about having a veteran team is that they know what they have to do; they have to go get the job done.”
The Tar Heels (18-2, 9-1 ACC) started off slowly because Miami’s athleticism kept the score close throughout most of the first set.
“They do a lot of things that kind of cause some trouble,” Rackham said. “But we served tough enough that I think that they had a hard time scoring at times because they were out of system.
“They’re a good team, and they definitely had some match-up problems that we struggled with tonight. But ultimately we found a way.”
The Tar Heels picked up their play and began to gain control of the set with a block by Paige Neuenfeldt and Leigh Andrew to give the team a 19-14 lead, the largest lead of the set. UNC then went on to win the set 25-21.
“The energy wasn’t as hype (Friday) with it being Halloween; not too many people were here,” Neuenfeldt said. “So it was a good way for us to learn how to win and make our own energy and to learn how to win in that kind of an atmosphere.”
The Tar Heels opened up the second set with a quick start to put them up 10-4 with a kill by Neuenfeldt. Then the team continued to dominate, gaining a 22-11 lead with a kill by Andrew, who led UNC with 15 kills and also added nine digs.
