After a 1-4 start, the North Carolina volleyball team battled the Italian Junior National Team in an exhibition on Monday, looking for an opportunity to hone its strengths and correct its weaknesses after a rocky start to the season.
Sixteen players saw time on the court for UNC, giving everyone a chance to gain experience. Ultimately, the Tar Heels lost the match 3-2.
Italy won the first two sets, 25-22 and 25-17. But UNC calmed down and came back strong in the third set to win 25-13, displaying the level of play that earned the Tar Heels a preseason top-10 ranking.
The fourth set was a marathon. The Tar Heels struggled to win two points in a row until Italy hit a serve and a spike out of bounds to help give UNC the victory 36-34. The fifth set was decided by two points as well, but the Tar Heels ended up on the wrong side, losing 23-21.
Italian wing spiker Paola Egonu finished the match with 24 kills, but Coach Joe Sagula thought his team did a good job slowing her down by getting as many touches on the ball as possible. The Tar Heels contested every spike, finishing with a total of 19.5 blocks.
Even though the Italian Junior National Team trains year-round, Sagula thought his team fared well against the well-refined game of the Italian's.
“I don’t feel we were outmatched,” Sagula said. “Volleyball-wise, (the Italian team) should probably have a higher volleyball IQ. I thought that was really good for us to get a challenge against a very sophisticated-level team.”
Leigh Andrew, a senior outside hitter, has been a consistent force on the left so far this season. She led UNC in kills with 16 on 38 total attempts, racking up only three errors in the match. Andrew remembers playing the Italian team two summers ago and thinks Monday's match was a great turnaround for the team.
“Obviously, we haven’t been getting the wins that we want,” Andrew said. “But we’ve been learning and we’ve been progressing in what we haven’t been successful at. (Monday) was a good day to put some of those things together and be able to see it and see some success on the court.”
