It took the North Carolina volleyball team four sets to defeat Western Michigan Saturday (3-1) but a yellow card to the Broncos turned the pace of the game to the Tar Heels favor.
UNC struggled to adjust to Western Michigan’s speed of play in the beginning of the match as the Broncos scored on several tips and deep hits. The Tar Heels were still able to pull out a 25-17 first-set victory when senior Tia Gaffen secured the win with an ace serve.
Western Michigan came back to win the second set 25-23, and as the third set opened, North Carolina struggled to make the adjustments it needed to succeed. Sophomore Chaniel Nelson got close to leveling the score with a block that moved the score to 3-4, but controversy from Western Michigan resulted in captain Terin Norris being shown a yellow penalty card.
The Broncos answered with a kill off of a swing, an aggressive change of pace from the tips the team had used to score during most of the first and second sets.
UNC junior Kayla Berringer responded with a kill of her own and then the ball went out for two consecutive North Carolina points, making it 6-4. Berringer gave the Tar Heels two more points on kills, and Nelson and senior Heather Henry each added one more as part of fast-paced play that emphasized strong hitting and stopping defense that ultimately helped North Carolina pull into the double digits with control of the set.
“I don’t think we adjusted quickly enough,” coach Joe Sagula said. “After the first set we knew that they were going to tip the ball a lot and go off-speed, but we didn’t convert many of those plays early in the match. We were uncomfortable, it exposed something for us to work on, but we ultimately did adjust and found ways to win.”
North Carolina maintained their third-set lead to a 24-23 set-point standing, with senior Cora Harms serving.
Western Michigan converted the serve, scored and then lost control with a service error that gave UNC its second chance at taking the match.
Senior Emily McGee was at the helm for the Tar Heels this time, but once again Western Michigan turned the serve into their point.
After Western Michigan’s serve went out of bonds at the team’s own expense putting the score at 26-25.
UNC sophomore Ece Taner’s serve was the third set-point attempt that the Broncos capitalized on, but a kill from Nelson off the Broncos’ serve returned the ball to her own hands.
In its fourth attempt at a set point, UNC claimed the third-set 28-26 win on an ace from Nelson.
Although the Tar Heel team did not use that victory as energetically as Sagula would have liked, North Carolina did still claim a fourth set win (25-20) to defeat Western Michigan 3-1.
North Carolina will play its last match of the Carolina Classic tonight at 7:30 against Middle Tennessee State.
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