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University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Duke
Tar Heels Score Big Win Over Duke
November 13, 2008 | Volleyball
Nov. 13, 2008
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The North Carolina Tar Heels took another step toward an ACC Championship Thursday night in the Dean E. Smith Center with a 3-0 (27-25, 25-23, 25-21) sweep of rival Duke (20-8, 11-5 ACC). Suzanne Haydel led the Tar Heel attack with a match-high 13 kills, while the Carolina defense fueled another impressive win. Senior Brianna Eskola recorded a match-high 21 digs, while freshman Kaylie Gibson chipped in 12 for Carolina who will look to extend its winning streak to eight against Wake Forest at 1 p.m. Sunday.
With the win Carolina moved a half game ahead of Clemson in the ACC standings and as a result of a 3-0 win over the Tigers on Oct. 24 are in control of the race for the 2008 ACC Championship. The Tar Heels avenged a 3-1 loss earlier in the season in Durham and pushed Carolina to a 3.5-2.5 lead in the Carlyle Cup standings.
The match was a battle from the start as neither team held a lead larger than three. The largest lead for the Tar Heels came early on with Heather Brooks providing the advantage on a service ace before the teams traded the next two points to make the score 8-5. A 4-0 run by the Blue Devils made the score 9-8 in favor of Duke before Carolina ended the run on a kill from Lauren Prussing to tie the set at 9-9. The next 12 points were played to a deadlock before Duke scored three consecutive points on a pair of kills by Becca Burling forcing Carolina into a timeout.
A service error put the ball in Kaylie Gibson's hands who delivered four impressive serves, two of which fell for service aces, en route to leading Carolina to a 20-18 lead and Duke to a timeout. Coming out of the break Suzanne Haydel delivered her fifth kill of the set to push the lead to three, but Duke answered with three straight points to tie things up at 21-21. Another kill from Haydel stopped the run and a block by Stephanie Jansma and Heather Brooks gave the Tar Heels a two-point lead (23-21). Another kill by Burling preceded another attack error by the Blue Devils that put the Tar Heels within a point of the first set win. Jourdan Norman stepped up for Duke with back-to-back kills to tie the score at 24-24, before a Carolina error pushed Duke ahead at 25-24. Junior Heather Brooks stepped up and tallied a kill evening the score as Prussing picked up her third kill and then joined Brooks on a block to give Carolina the 27-25 opening set win.
Haydel kept it going into the second set as she delivered six more kills to reach an early dozen and gave Carolina a 2-0 match lead with a 25-23 win. The Tar Heels jumped out to an 8-4 lead forcing a very early Duke timeout after the score was knotted at 4-4. Carolina held a seven-point lead as late as 20-13 before Duke came to life and rattled off five consecutive points to pull within two (20-18). A trio of Haydel kills neutralized a trio by Norman as Carolina inched closer to the win with the score 23-21. A kill by Duke's Sophia Dunworth made the score 23-22 before Brooks delivered another kill and put Carolina within a point of the win. A Duke block brought the Blue Devils back within one as Brooks stepped up again and gave Carolina the 25-23 win.
The Tar Heel defense showed its true colors in the third set picking up three blocks and forcing the Blue Devils into 10 errors for a match-low -.023 hitting percentage. It was Courtney Johnston's turn to lead the Tar Heel outside hitters as the Gainesville, Fla., product tallied half of the Tar Heels 12 kills. A 4-2 lead by the Blue Devils would not last long as Carolina stormed back on more solid serving by Gibson to take an 11-8 lead and force Duke into a timeout. A 5-3 Carolina run resulted from the timeout and forced the Blue Devils into their second and final timeout of the night. Duke would not go quietly chipping away at the lead and closing the gap to just two at 23-21, making things interesting for the Tar Heels. Brooks and Johnston would lead the final charge as the duo produced back-to-back kills to give Carolina the 25-21 set three win and its 18th victory of the year.
Carolina will look to extend its win streak to eight, the longest since the 2005 season, on Sunday against visiting Wake Forest who Carolina lost to back on Oct. 4. With the 21 digs Brianna Eskola inched closer to the ACC career digs mark and now sits 67 digs shy of the record of 2,200. Senior setter Stephanie Jansma stepped in for an injured Erica Behm and turned in perhaps one of the best performances of her career dishing out 35 assists in the victory.
