No. 8 UNC volleyball flashes dominance behind Treacy, Fricano against Boston College

North Carolina was simply the better team.

The No. 8 UNC volleyball team (18-2, 10-0 ACC) entered Friday’s match with a perfect 20-0 all-time winning streak against Boston College (5-15, 0-10 ACC).

With a sweep of the Eagles, the Tar Heels continued to prove they are a force to be reckoned with in the ACC. And with the win, the Tar Heels tied the best conference start in program history (9-0).

“I think we’re just trying to make a point right now and prove to the rest of the ACC that we’re significantly better,” redshirt senior Taylor Treacy said. “(We are) trying to win in three and win a lot more smoothly, so when we get to the Final Four, the Elite Eight, etc., we’ll be able to execute.”

The smooth win came at the hands of the Tar Heels’ front line. The unit helped UNC post a hitting percentage of .323 and notch 11.5 blocks to overwhelm the Eagles all night.

Redshirt junior Taylor Fricano dominated with seven of the Tar Heels’ 11.5 total blocks. Her presence at the net closed off a lot of the Eagles’ opportunities.

“Fricano just worked really hard closing blocks tonight, so I’m excited to see those kinds of numbers,” Coach Joe Sagula said. “I’ll take that any time.”

But Fricano’s blocking only tells half of the story. Treacy’s play was the most notable of the night.

“There were times when I couldn’t get up, and I had a lot of confidence that it was going back to Taylor (Treacy) over here,” Fricano said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s fine. She’s going to get a kill.’ We had a lot of confidence in each other tonight.”

The redshirt senior totaled a remarkable 15 kills with no errors for a career-high hitting percentage (.652) on Friday. She also contributed to the blocking effort, delivering three of her own.

“We were laughing about (Treacy) needing to improve her hitting percentage — she certainly did that tonight, with no errors,” Sagula said.

“She completely dominated tonight. She didn’t even play the last eight points. I told her we’ll just take her out before she messes up.”

Treacy’s play didn’t come out of nowhere. She believes the extra work she puts in during the week has given her a competitive advantage come match time.

“For me, this week just staying after practice and getting reps or coming in before was a huge part of my focus, just to have more clean contact on the ball,” Treacy said.

“And it showed in the game, so I’m pretty content with how I performed.”

With the Fricano and Treacy takeover at the net, there is no telling where this offense can take the Tar Heels — especially if they are only content with their performance.

sports@dailytarheel.com