The North Carolina volleyball team (2-0) defeated College of Charleston (1-1) 3-0 on Saturday afternoon at Carmichael Arena.
Charleston won the opening coin toss and elected to serve first. Senior outside hitter Tynley Smeltzer opened the game with a jump serve aimed cross-court at sophomore setter Zoe Behrendt. A quick cover from junior libero Maddy May allowed Behrendt to launch a cross-court set for senior outside hitter Mabrey Shaffmaster to open the scoring.
UNC quickly overwhelmed the Cougars with two consecutive kills from graduate outside hitter Emani’ Foster and middle Alexis Engelbrecht.
The Tar Heel offense, spearheaded by Foster, continued its aggressive attack. Foster led both teams in attack attempts and kills with 27 and 19, respectively.
On the defensive end, redshirt sophomore outside hitter Chelsea Thorpe and first-year middle blocker Jackie Taylor formed an iron wall, forcing wide swings from the Charleston hitters.
During the second set, sophomore outside Safi Hampton extended the North Carolina lead with two consecutive aces. With the Tar Heels full of life, Foster slammed the final kill on the line to close out the set.
The third set began with a long opening rally. Both teams vied for the opening point, hoping to get off to a productive start. As the Cougars backed up, anticipating another deep kill, Behrendt used a quick middle set to Taylor to break the deadlock and put the Tar Heels up.
Charleston began to battle back, taking their first lead of the match with an attack error from Engelbrecht. However, the Tar Heels refused to back down, alternating back-and-forth points with the Cougars deep into the third set.
UNC battled back, with Thorpe blasting a spike off graduate middle blocker Allie Holland to take the lead back for North Carolina.
