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University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
10-9, 7-4
Florida State
12-7, 6-5
Seminoles Defeat Tar Heels in Straight Sets
October 27, 2017 | Volleyball
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – North Carolina dropped its second match of the midseason road trip on Friday night, falling 3-0 (25-11, 25-22, 27-25) at Florida State. The Tar Heels out-blocked the Seminoles, recording their 14th double-digit performance of the season, but struggled on offense in the three-set loss. With the win, Florida State improves to 12-7 (6-5 ACC), while UNC drops to 10-9 (7-4 ACC).
Neither team had a player with double-digit kills in the match, as Beth Nordhorn led the Tar Heels by hitting .316 with eight kills. Taylor Leath and Madison Laufenberg followed with seven kills, and Taylor Fricano added six.
Holly Carlton and Kendra Koetter split the setting duties, tallying 16 and 13 assists, respectively. Carlton narrowly missed a double-double with nine digs and landed both of UNC's service aces.
Leath led the Tar Heel back row with 11 digs on the night, the first time since Sept. 3 that she had more digs than kills in a match. Libero Casey Jacobs totaled nine digs, and Koetter added seven.
Redshirt freshman Katharine Esterley paced Carolina at the net with six of the Tar Heels' 10.0 stuffs, while Sydnye Fields posted five, including one solo, and Nordhorn added four.
Florida State opened the match with a 6-0 run before a kill by Esterley put UNC on the board. The Tar Heels cut the deficit in half, 8-5, but the Seminoles used a 7-1 run to race back ahead, 17-8. UNC slammed back-to-back kills to reach double digits, but Florida State won eight of the final nine points to take the opener, 25-11. The Seminoles had just eight kills in the first set, but took advantage of eight Carolina errors and three aces.
The second set was neck-and-neck until a four-point run put Florida State ahead 10-5. Carolina battled back, using a 4-0 run of its own to tie the score at 14 on an ace by Carlton. A kill by Leath put UNC on top 16-15, and a Fields-Nordhorn block gave the Tar Heels their first double-digit lead, 18-16. However, Florida State came back to tie the score at 18, then won four straight points to pull ahead 23-20. Carlton wiped off Florida State's first chance at set point, but a kill by Natasha Calkins from the left pin finished the second set, 25-22, in favor of FSU.
North Carolina ran out to a 6-3 lead to start the third set, but three straight by the Seminoles made it 11-10 FSU. Carolina replied with a kill and a block to take back the lead, and another block made it 15-13 at the TV timeout. FSU pushed back in front, 17-16, but the Tar Heels ran off five in a row with two kills each by Leath and Nordhorn to make it 21-17. However, Florida State followed with a 4-0 run to tie the score at 23. UNC reached set point twice, 24-23, and 25-24, on kills by Fricano, but three straight points for the Seminoles closed out the match in three, as Florida State took the third set, 27-25.
North Carolina remains in Florida for the rest of the weekend, closing out the road trip on Sunday, Oct. 29, with a visit to Miami. Opening serve is set for 1 p.m.
