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University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Virginia Tech
Carolina Wins Sixth Straight
November 8, 2008 | Volleyball
Nov. 8, 2008
BLACKSBURG, Va. - The North Carolina volleyball team extended its win streak to six Saturday night in Blacksburg, Va. with a sweep (25-19, 25-22, 25-20) of Virginia Tech (18-8, 9-6 ACC) to improve to 17-9 overall and 11-4 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. The outside hitters stepped up for Carolina as Lauren Prussing led the way with a match-high 12 kills, while sophomore Suzanne Haydel added 11 of her own on a .303 hitting percentage. Carolina will host Duke in a Carlyle Cup clash at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13.
Carolina used a completely dominant defensive performance to pick up its sixth consecutive win as the Hokies hit .096 on the night with the low coming in the opening set (.051). The Tar Heels controlled the momentum in the early going before rattling off three consecutive points as Prussing and Haydel each recorded kills and Virginia Tech committed an attack error to take a 10-7 lead and would extend the margin to five (15-10). The Hokies would not quit as they pulled within one (15-14) forcing Prussing to step up and deliver another kill to break up the run. Virginia Tech would take two of the next three points to pull back within one before Carolina took advantage of a pair of Hokie errors to take a 20-16 advantage. The Tar Heels would outscore Virginia Tech 5-3 the rest of the way to take an early 1-0 advantage with the 25-19 win.
Virginia Tech held a slim advantage throughout the second set not leading by more than two the entire way. The score favored the Hokies 11-9 before the teams traded the next 10 points making the score 16-14 with Virginia Tech in front. The Tar Heels were able to gain their first advantage since 9-8 with a 3-0 run forcing Virginia Tech into a timeout at 17-16. The Hokies would battle back and regain the lead at 19-18 and 20-19 but could not hold the edge as Carolina went on a 3-1 run to regain the lead at 22-21. A kill by Felicia Willoughby tied the score at 21-21 forcing Carolina into a timeout which came at a perfect time as the Tar Heels scored three straight to pull within a point of taking a 2-0 lead, at 24-21. The Hokies would pick up a point before Heather Brooks closed out the set with her third kill in the 25-22 win.
After 14 ties and eight lead changes in the second set, Carolina and Virginia Tech kept the back-and-forth going into the third set. The Tar Heels stepped up their play late in the set to seal their sixth consecutive win with a 25-20 set three win. With the score tied 18-18, Courtney Johnston and Lauren Prussing delivered a combined six kills to easily give Carolina a 24-20 advantage. Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland closed out the set and the match with her fifth kill of the night to push Carolina to 17-9 on the year as the Tar Heels remain in a tie atop the ACC standings at 11-4.
Haydel turned in a double-double on the night as she tallied 14 digs in the sweep to go along with her 11 kills. Senior Brianna Eskola closed out a solid weekend with 18 digs after posting 30 the night before in Virginia.
The Tar Heels will now look to push their winning streak to seven Thursday night against Duke in the Dean E. Smith Center. The six-match winning streak is the longest of the year and equals the longest mark of the 2007 squad, while a seven-match winning streak would be one shy of the ACC Champion 2005 team's best streak of eight. Carolina currently leads the Carlyle Cup standings with a 3-2.5 advantage as the teams will battle for a half point at 7 p.m. Thursday.
