Everything is starting to connect for the young North Carolina volleyball team.
Coming out of a week that saw the team top rivals N.C. State and Virginia Tech, UNC took the court at Carmichael Arena on Friday night to play Miami with a confident energy. For a team with multiple first-years as major contributors, this confidence has been key in igniting a three-match win streak and a 3-1 win over the Hurricanes.
“It’s unique this year how many young players we have,” senior Mia Fradenburg said. “We’ve made it a point, this concept of connecting.”
Fradenburg is one of the only remaining members of the 2016 UNC team that won the ACC Championship — the last North Carolina squad to finish with a winning record.
As captain, Fradenburg has seen an influx of talented first-years join the ranks of the Tar Heels this season, including last week’s ACC Freshman of the Week, Parker Austin. Austin dominated in both games last week, finishing with a total of 25 kills. She followed up those performances with a game-high 17 kills against Miami, the second-best performance of her young career, kills-wise.
Skyy Howard has been another standout first-year for North Carolina. In a match where UNC recorded 24 total blocks, the team's best mark this season, Howard led the way with 13 — more than half of the team’s total for the season-best performance.
“When we came in, a big goal for us was to accept our role,” Parker said of the first-years. “I think we did a really good job of that.”
This chemistry between first-years and upperclassmen was evident during a key third set. After Miami stormed back with a four-point run at the end of the second set to tie the match at 1-1, the Tar Heels came out of the break visibly lacking the energy they had previously displayed. Before the first serve of the set, Fradenburg pulled Parker aside, then eventually gathered the team as a whole to share words of encouragement.
“I’ve been told by the coaches, try to regroup everyone, really make it a point to stay in the huddle,” Fradenburg said. “There’s no point in trying to break (the first-year players) down. I believe in them, they’ve done it every day in practice, so I just try to encourage them and remind them of how good they are.”
