The North Carolina volleyball team (15-11, 7-8 ACC) fell 3-0 to No. 5 Louisville (24-2, 15-1 ACC) on Sunday afternoon in Carmichael Arena in their second consecutive loss to the Cardinals following their 1-3 defeat in Kentucky last Sunday.
What happened?
UNC got off to a blazing start, winning the first three points in a row against Louisville due largely to attack errors on their opponents behalf. The Cardinals attempted a comeback, picking up the fourth point, but the Tar Heels momentum proved too powerful and within the next few minutes, the score was 8-3 in the home team's favor.
This caused Louisville to call a timeout, trying to halt North Carolina's hot streak. After the break, the two teams seemed more evenly matched, trading points back and forth with neither going on a streak of more than three.
The Cardinals began to creep back up on the Tar Heels, eventually erasing North Carolina's lead and finding themselves tied at 14-14. This slow and steady progression continued, and resulted in Louisville seeing their first lead of the game at 16-15, forcing UNC to call its own time out.
The Tar Heels came out hot once more, winning three games in quick succession and regaining the lead. This streak was short lived though, and the Cardinals were able to close the gap and swap places with their opponents to put themselves ahead and claim the opening set 25-22.
The second set began in a similar fashion to the first, with the opponents trading points and swapping the lead back and forth four times within the opening minutes.
Louisville however, seemed to finally settle in and began to become more comfortable, extending the lead between themselves and North Carolina, resulting in a UNC timeout when down 16-9.
They continued this momentum throughout the rest of the second set, and dominated the Tar Heels in a 25-11 victory after going on a 16-4 streak in the second half of the set.
