University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
8-8, 5-2ACC
Florida State
14-4, 7-0ACC
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State | 25 | 22 | 18 | 25 | 15 | 3 |
| North Carolina | 20 | 25 | 25 | 21 | 10 | 2 |
No. 18 Seminoles Escape Tar Heels in Five Sets
October 17, 2015 | Volleyball
CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina took No. 18 Florida State down to the wire on Friday night, but the first-place Seminoles finished on top to hand the Tar Heels their first ACC loss at Carmichael Arena in over two years. FSU won the first set, but UNC bounced back to take the next two and lead 2-1. However, a late run by the 'Noles sent the match to the deciding fifth set, and State (14-4, 7-0 ACC) took care of business in the tiebreaker to defeat Carolina, 3-2 (25-20, 22-25, 18-25, 25-21, 15-10), and maintain its unblemished conference record. With the loss, UNC drops to 8-8 (5-2 ACC).
“Well, congrats to FSU for winning for their first time in Carmichael in my four years here,” said middle hitter Paige Neuenfeldt. “Hats off to them. They played really hard and it was a tough battle. We knew it was going to be. We're two of the top teams in the ACC. It's always a battle here. I'm just disappointed in the way we executed in the fifth set and parts of the time in the first and fourth as well. We saw our serve and pass kind of break down and reverted to swinging low seams and got blocked a little bit. We just can't do against a good team.”
“I thought we fought hard,” said head coach Joe Sagula. “It was just an up-and-down match, and I thought it was very disappointing to be up two sets to one at home and to let one slip away. In that fourth set, I thought we had a chance at 20-21. We had a great comeback. We just had to make some positive plays that we didn't.
“Untimely plays, untimely unforced errors are really what it came down to. For the most part, I thought we competed early, but at the end, I wanted us to be even better. I wanted us to make some more aggressive plays when it was close. I think we shied back a little bit and gave Florida State a little bit of an advantage. They played very confident at the end. ”
Sophomore Taylor Fricano had a career night, leading the match with a personal-high 15 kills. Paige Neuenfeldt was firing on all cylinders, slamming 14 kills and eight blocks while hitting .571, and Taylor Treacy matched her season high with 10 kills.
Jordyn Schnabl registered her 24th career double-double, tallying a season-high 32 assists with 13 digs, while Tatiana Durr (14) and Leigh Andrew (12) also put up double-digit digs. Libero Sheila Doyle covered the most ground, nearly doubling her career high with the first Tar Heel 20-dig performance of the season, leading the match with 24.
Both teams were a nightmare at the net, as Carolina posted a season-high 16.5 blocks while the Seminoles stuffed a total of 18.0 for a combined 34.5 roofs. Neuenfeldt and FSU's Mercedes Vaughn led the match with eight blocks apiece, including one solo, while Victoria McPherson stuffed seven and Treacy slammed five.
Florida State was the first ACC team to out-serve the Tar Heels, leading 7-3 in aces, but five of those seven came in the first set, after which Carolina regrouped to allow just two over the final four frames.
Florida State took the first meaningful lead of the match, 8-5, but a four-point run served out by Durr pushed the Tar Heels in front, 13-12. A dominating kill by Fricano made it 15-14, but the Seminoles replied with two blocks and an ace to take back the lead, 18-15. Another ace, FSU's fifth of the set, helped the Seminoles reach set point, 24-17. Carolina fought back to erase three set points, but the deficit was too large to overcome, as a kill by Milica Kubura finished it off, 25-20, for FSU.
The second set was much like the first, featuring 12 tie scores, and once again Florida State pulled away late, 22-17. However, the Tar Heels refused to back down, rattling off eight straight points capped off by an ace from Doyle to turn the tables and even the match at one set apiece, 25-22.
“I knew I was rotating in at a point when it was 17-22,” said Neuenfeldt. “I just knew when I came in that I wasn't going to let us go down 0-2. As a senior on my home court, I just wanted to play as hard as I could, and ended up getting a lot of key kills and turning momentum, but it was a team effort. We blocked well, and I think the mentality switched, but without that, we would have been down 0-2 and it would have been a lot worse of a situation. I think it was really important for us to see that momentum shift.”
After an extended halftime break, the Seminoles took an early 6-3 lead, but Andrew served the Tar Heels on an 8-1 run including three Carolina blocks to flip the score, 11-7. Florida State bounced back to tie the score at 12, but a service error gave the momentum back to UNC, and the Tar Heels raced ahead down the stretch to take over the match lead with a 25-18 win in the third.
The fourth set was a reverse of the previous, as Carolina led 6-3 early but the 'Noles tied the score at 12 then took an 18-15 lead. Back-to-back Carolina blocks pulled the Tar Heels back within one, 21-20, but an unfortunately-timed service error gave the Seminoles the jump they needed as they took set four, 25-21, to force a deciding set.
Florida State won the first three points of the fifth set, and that was enough to carry the 'Noles to victory. A kill by Treacy pulled Carolina within one, 7-6, but FSU ran right back out to take an 11-7 on a lucky serve that nipped the tape and found the floor, then closed out the match with a 15-10 decision in the fifth.
Carolina has a day to regroup before returning to Carmichael on Sunday afternoon to host the University of Miami in ACC play. First serve against the Hurricanes is set for 1 p.m. on Oct. 18.
