North Carolina
2-5
Loyola Marymount
6-4
LMU Outlasts Carolina, 3-2, at Carmichael
September 15, 2017 | Volleyball
CHAPEL HILL – No. 24 North Carolina took a 2-1 match lead, but a pair of dominating service runs by junior Kekai Whitford led Loyola Marymount to a five-set victory (25-17, 25-27, 19-25, 25-14, 15-11) on Friday night. The Lions' first 2017 win over a ranked opponent in four opportunities moves LMU to 6-4 on the year, while the injury-plagued Tar Heels slip to 2-5.
"I thought we played two and a half sets pretty well, and to win and be successful you have to play hard for all three," said head coach Joe Sagula. "I thought the second set we did enough good things to be good. I thought we played very well in the third set; we controlled the energy with the flow of the game, the offense. The rhythm of the game went the way we wanted to. Then all of a sudden we just seemed like a different team. The energy level went down."
After setting all six rotations in the first set, redshirt freshman Holly Carlton transitioned to setter/hitter and neared a triple-double, totaling 28 assists, 13 digs and nine kills. Kendra Koetter joined Carlton in the 6-2 for the final four sets, putting up 13 assists.
Outside hitter Taylor Leath led the Tar Heels with 13 kills, and Beth Nordhorn followed with 12, hitting .417. Madison Laufenberg matched her career high with eight kills, while Katharine Esterley set a new personal high with seven.
Nordhorn stood firm at the net, tying her career high with a team-season-high seven blocks, while Sydnye Fields, playing on the right side, posted five and Esterley stuff four.
Mia Fradenburg paced the back line with 19 digs to go with two service aces, while Leath just missed a double-double with nine and Sehrena Hull put up eight.
A block by Esterley and Leath tied the score 3-3, but LMU followed with a 7-1 run to take a 10-4 lead to start the match. Carolina cut the deficit to four, 12-8, but was unable to pull any closer, as the Lions took the first set, 25-17. The Tar Heels mustered just seven kills in the opening stanza, as compared to 19 by LMU.
The second set was highly contested, featuring 18 tie scores and five lead changes. After trading service errors for a 15-15 tie, LMU went on a 5-0 run to pull ahead 19-15. The Heels battled back, using a pair of blocks by Fields and Nordhorn and a kill by Laufenberg to knot the score at 20. Kills by Nordhorn tied the score at 21 and 22, but an LMU block made it set point, 24-22. Back-to-back kills by Leath erased the advantage, then the reigning ACC Player of the Week teamed up with Esterley for a block to reach set point. LMU wiped off UNC's first attempt, but a strong serve by Leath resulted in an overpass, and Carlton smacked it to the floor to finish off the second, 27-25, and tie the match at one set apiece. After hitting just .100 in the first set, UNC hit .400 with 18 kills in the second, including six kills on nine swings by Nordhorn.
North Carolina led 7-3 to start the third set then pulled ahead 19-12 on kills by Nordhorn and Esterley. The Lions battled back to within four, 21-17, but a kill by Carlton set up set point, and an attack error put UNC ahead 2-1 with a 25-19 win in the third.
A terrific service run by Kekai Whitford midway through the fourth flipped a 9-10 deficit to a 20-10 LMU lead before a service error finally allowed the Tar Heels to rotate. Carolina scored four more points in the set, but the Lions took it 25-14 to extend the match to five.
Whitford picked up where she left off to start the fifth set, serving LMU to a 5-0 lead which the Lions stretched to 10-2. The Tar Heels fought hard to get back into it, as a service ace by Fradenburg cut the deficit to three, 14-11, but an attack into the net halted the comeback, as the Lions held on to win, 15-11, and pick up the five-set victory.
"I think what's great about this team is that we're continuing to learn and adapt," said Leath. "We're using different line-ups and looking at different situations all the time. I don't think that we're where we need to be, but I think that every single day we're growing to get there."
The Tar Heels close out nonconference play on Saturday, Sept. 16, hosting Coastal Carolina at Carmichael arena at 6:30 p.m.
