Before North Carolina’s 3-0 victory against Clemson on Saturday, the volleyball team’s seniors and their parents were called out to the court to be recognized before a large crowd on senior night.
For this group of veterans, though, the spotlight isn’t where they’re most at home.
UNC’s four graduating players—Erica Behm, Shelby Bleke, Aleksandra Georgieva and Kaylie Gibson—have instead left a mark on the program that coach Joe Sagula says is less visible but more important than what shows up on the stat sheets.
“These seniors are just steady people, in terms of their personalities and their performance,” he said. “That steady personality helped create a calmness and a confidence for our young players.
“Erica’s not the ‘rah-rah’ type of person, but she’s steady in how she plays, and it creates a calm. Kaylie Gibson’s not the loudest person on the court either, but she speaks volumes with her play.”
On an otherwise emotional senior night, the team’s veterans seemed characteristically unfazed during the match as they took out a scrappy Clemson team that had played them to five sets Sept. 30.
On Saturday, Gibson recorded 20 digs while Behm was credited with 32 assists. UNC’s victory completed a successful weekend outing for the team, which also defeated Georgia Tech 3-1 on Friday.
“It wasn’t actually until the end of the third game that I was like, ‘This is it, this is the final couple of points I’m going to be playing in Carmichael,’” Gibson said. “I wasn’t thinking about the fact that it was senior night.”
But for fans of Tar Heel volleyball, it was hard not to.
“During the match, Tyler Adams, my assistant looked over to me and said, ‘Boy, we’re gonna really miss (Gibson),’” Sagula said. “She was phenomenal, and she made some great digs. She’s hard to replace, and I don’t know how we’re going to do that.”
Gibson, who is the leading finalist for the Lowes’ Senior Class award, and her fellow seniors will leave UNC with at least one ACC title and two NCAA appearances under their belts.
Yet redshirt freshman and standout hitter Chaniel Nelson said she thinks their character is her teammates’ true legacy.
“They’ve definitely pushed me past my comfort zone, past the limit I thought I was able to reach, especially Kaylie,” Nelson said. “They’ve all just really helped me socially — expressing my personality more on the court, off the court, and it’s just really sad to see them up there knowing that they won’t be here next season.”
Sagula said he feels much the same way.
“Those four people are the ones who set the tone for this team, this family, and the ones who set the level of performance and the ethics,” he said. “I’m proud of what they do.”
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
