Carolina Drops Five-Set Heartbreaker to Louisville

Sunday, September 23

Chapel Hill, N.C.

1 PM

North Carolina

4-7, 0-2ACC

Louisville

9-4, 2-0ACC

Louisville

North Carolina

Photo by: UNC Athletic Communications

September 23, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina battled point-for-point with reigning ACC Co-Champion Louisville, but ultimately, fell short in five thrilling sets on Sunday afternoon at Carmichael Arena. The Tar Heels and Cardinals traded sets and battled through 29 tie scores before Louisville came out on top, 3-2.

Despite the loss, several Tar Heels had record performances on the court. Ava Bell hit 20 kills on an errorless 35 attempts, attacking at a match-best .571 clip. Skylar Wine matched her career high with 15 kills while Destiny Cox also posted double-digit kills with 10. Hunter Atherton recorded her third career double-double with 49 assists (tied career high) and career and match best, 22 digs.

Defensively, Casey Jacobs and Mia Fradenburg tacked on double-figure kills with 12 and 19, respectively. In addition to eight kills, Katharine Esterley led UNC's block with 11, helping to the Tar Heels to a season high, 14.0 total blocks.

Melanie McHenry and Megan Sloan led Louisville's attack with 19 and 18 kills apiece. Both Wilma Rivera (45 assists, 11 digs) and Molly Sauer (10 assists, 20 digs) posted double-doubles en route to the Cardinal's second conference win. Louisville is now 9-4 on the season. Carolina falls to 4-7, 0-2 in ACC play.

To begin the match, a pair of blocks by Bell and Atherton gave the Tar Heels some momentum after starting the set with a 1-5 deficit. Esterley joined the block party with a trio of block assists. The Tar Heels totaled five blocks in the frame while Bell led the attack with four kills, however it was not enough for the set win. Louisville's Melanie McHenry posted a set-high five kills en route to the 25-20 win.

The Cardinals opened the frame with a pair of blocks before Bell posted her fifth kill for Carolina. An impressive dig by Fradenburg and a pair of kills from Bell gave the Tar Heels their first lead of the match, 8-6 in set two. However the Cardinals evened the set back up at 9-all. UNC answered right back to take a 15-12 lead at the media timeout thanks to solid defense by Atherton who logged a double-double with 16 assists and 10 digs at the midway point in the set. The score stayed close as Carolina called a timeout at the 24-22 mark to set up for Wine's kill for the set win.

Carolina's momentum continued in set three with a 6-1 lead that forced Louisville to use its first timeout. However, the Cardinals knotted the frame up at 15-15. Esterley posted a set-best five kills, but it wasn't enough to pace the Tar Heels to victory in the frame. Louisville continued to attack by ending the set on a 7-1 run to win, 25-20, and take a 2-1 lead.

The Cardinals picked up where they left off until UNC tied up the game thanks to a 4-1 rally. However, Louisville responded with a run of its own to take a three-point lead until the 16-16 mark following a pair of kills by Bell and Laufenberg. Coming off the bench, Aristea Tontai connected with Madison Laufenberg for the block before knotting the game at 19-19. The Tar Heels and Cardinals battled point for point from the 19th point on. Wine sealed the 27-25 set win with her 12th kill of the match.

A pair of consecutive blocks by the Cardinals gave them a two-point lead that they maintained through the 8-6 mark. However, Louisville took a 12-7 lead as North Carolina used its second timeout. Coming out of the break, Cox struck a pair of kills and formed a block with Bell to bring the match within two. Bell tacked on a kill of her own to extend the rally to four points. However, the Cardinals clinched the set, 15-13, for the match win.

The Tar Heels wrap up its home stand Wednesday, hosting NC State at 6:30 p.m. in Carmichael Arena.

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