Sunday sports roundup: Two volleyball losses, a women's tennis win and more

With several of North Carolina's fall sports teams adding spring seasons to their 2020-2021 schedules, The Daily Tar Heel will be recapping some of the action from this spring's busy weekends in roundups every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Volleyball (Saturday): FSU 3, UNC 2

The North Carolina volleyball team (10-5, 9-4 ACC) fell to No. 25 Florida State (12-5, 8-5 ACC), 2-3, in Pittsburgh on Saturday.

North Carolina secured a season-best 12 aces, but still ended up falling short of the victory. The Tar Heels started off strong and established an early lead, winning the first set, 25-16. Florida State came back with a win in the second set, led by Seminole senior Jasmyn Martin with six kills. The Seminoles won the second set, 25-12.

Florida State hit the ground running in the third set, establishing a quick eight-point lead. Carolina fought back, and managed to catch up slightly, but the Seminoles ultimately won the third set, 25-18, giving them an advantage going into the fourth set.

Carolina stole the fourth set victory with a score of 25-21, led by first-year Kaya Merkler with her 14th kill of the match. This victory brought the overall score to 2-2, forcing a fifth set.

The fifth set went back and forth, including five tie scores and three lead changes. Florida State established a good rhythm later in the set, carrying them to a 15-9 victory that won them the match.

The Tar Heels went on to face No.19 Pittsburgh on Sunday, March 28 at 12:30 p.m.

Annie Gibson, staff writer

Volleyball: Pittsburgh 3, UNC 0

The North Carolina volleyball team (10-6, 9-5 ACC) fell on the road, 3-0, to No. 19 Pittsburgh (14-4, 12-4 ACC) on Saturday afternoon, marking the team’s second straight defeat.

Pittsburgh jumped out to an early lead with a 25-15 win in the first set and carried that momentum for the reminder of the match. The Panthers added to their lead by winning the second set, 25-11, and closed out the match with a 25-11 win in the final set. 

The Panthers came out with strong leads at the beginning of each set, which allowed them to ultimately pull away from the Tar Heels. 

Juniors Amanda Phegley and Annabelle Archer were two standout players in the match. Phegley led the Tar Heels with seven kills, while Archer chipped in 16 assists and six digs.

The Tar Heels will travel to Florida next weekend to take on Louisville on Friday at 2 p.m. and Miami on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Lindsay Callihan, staff writer 

Men’s tennis: UVA 6, UNC 1

The No. 1 North Carolina men’s tennis team received its first loss of the season at the hands of No. 6 Virginia on Sunday. With a final match score of 6-1, this uncharacteristic loss by the Tar Heels puts a noticeable tarnish on their previously undefeated record.

UNC fell to Virginia in all four of its single matchups in straight sweeps, the Tar Heels not taking a single set from the Cavaliers. This put North Carolina in a 4-0 deficit going into doubles play.

In doubles, the team of seniors Mac Kiger and Simon Soendergaard defeated Ryan Goetz and Chris Rodesch, but the other two teams lost, giving Virginia the doubles point. Kiger's win at No. 6 singles over the Cavaliers' William Woodall was UNC's only point of the dual-match. Ultimately, the Cavaliers put on a performance that the Tar Heels just could not keep up with, resulting in their first loss of the season.

UNC's season continues at home against Boston College on Saturday, April 3 at 11 a.m.

Karlie Nielson, staff writer

Women's tennis: UNC 7, Notre Dame 0 

The No. 1 UNC women’s tennis team (19-0, 9-0 ACC) swept all matches, making for a 7-0 win against Notre Dame (9-9, 3-7 ACC) on Sunday at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. 

First-year Reilly Tran and senior Alle Sanford were the first Tar Heel doubles duo to finish their match, winning 6-2. Senior Alexa Graham and sophomore Anika Yarlagadda secured the majority for UNC, winning their match 6-2. To further the doubles defeat, sophomore Elizabeth Scotty and junior Cameron Morra won 6-3.

UNC was leading in singles play when rain began to fall, leading to play being continued indoors. No. 21 graduate student Makenna Jones was the first to win her singles game, winning her sets 6-0 and 6-1. No. 51 first-year Fiona Crawley followed that up with a 6-2, 6-0 victory. Graham, Tran and Yarlagadda were the next three Tar Heels to win, all picking up two-set victories. Meanwhile, Morra had a three-set battle but eventually came out on top, winning the last set 6-4.

This win extends UNC’s winning streak to 37 games, with its last loss coming at the end of the 2018-2019 season in the NCAA Team Championships. UNC will look to extend the winning streak Thursday, April 1 against Wake Forest.

Noah Monroe, staff writer

Fencing

This week, the UNC fencing team rounded out its season with 11 fencers competing at the NCAA Championships in State College, Penn. With a multitude of strong performances, the Tar Heels notched a sixth-place finish. 

The men competed on Thursday and Friday, while the women competed on Saturday and Sunday. In the men’s sabre, two Tar Heels earned top-10 finishes. Junior Beni Rabinowitz placed sixth, and first-year Alec Mulvaney finished ninth. 

In the women’s epee, first-year Allegra Parker earned a 10th-place finish. Rabinowitz, Mulvaney and Parker were all able to earn All-America honors, with Rabinowitz being named a second-team All-American and Mulvaney and Parker being named honorable mentions.

Isaiah Lucas, staff writer