The North Carolina volleyball team (3-0) defeated Western Carolina (0-3) 3-0 on Sunday afternoon at Carmichael Arena.
UNC won the opening coin toss and elected to serve first. Sophomore setter Zoe Behrendt opened the game with a cross-court serve that sparked an attack by the Catamounts. This was quickly shut down by a block from redshirt sophomore outside hitter Chelsea Thorpe.
Behrendt would then go on to serve back-to-back aces with her third ace coming after a long volley that was ended by senior outside hitter Mabrey Shaffmaster. After some back-and-forth points, the Tar Heels secured three more points from aces, this time from graduate setter Taylor Eisert, to put the Heels up 12-6.
UNC put set one away, 25-13, after a set from Eisert positioned graduate outside hitter Emani’ Foster with a kill that was too powerful for Western to return.
Staying within a point of each other at the beginning of the second set, North Carolina started to pull away with some new faces on the court. Transfer middle blocker Lauren Schutter obtained her first point of the season with a huge spike that planted the ball right between two Western players. Sophomore outside hitter Safi Hampton also found herself on the court more today, playing in two sets and posting 11 kills.
North Carolina would go to secure the second set, 25-17, after going on a 7-0 scoring run. The set point, which was followed by back-to-back aces by Shaffmaster, was set up by Behrendt and then freshman middle blocker Jackie Taylor found a gap in Western’s line and aimed the ball perfectly to get the kill.
The third set was all North Carolina. Junior libero Maddy May ran to the very back of the court to save the ball and passed it to Shaffmaster, whose hard hit could not be returned. This initiated UNC’s 10-0 scoring run where Shaffmaster would go on to add three more aces to her resume and Hampton and Thorpe would take turns making kills. Hampton would go on to make the final kill to the left corner of the court to secure the set and game for the Heels.
North Carolina will play Temple on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 3 p.m. in Columbia, S.C.
