Carolina Volleyball Announces 2019 Schedule

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina volleyball and head coach Joe Sagula announced its fall 2019 schedule Friday, highlighted by the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and the Carolina Classic both at home in Carmichael Arena. UNC will face seven 2018 NCAA Tournament participants, including five second-round and two regional teams.

"We always aim to play a balanced schedule, home and away, against teams that will test us in different ways to begin the season and I think that's what we have," Sagula said. "We like our ACC schedule this year as well. We will host teams that we narrowly lost on the road to last season so it will be good to play them at home. One of our goals is to compete and to return to the top of the ACC this year with a shot at the NCAA Tournament. I feel that our schedule will help prepare for that and give us the opportunities to reach our goals."

Before the official start to the season, North Carolina will split in two for their annual Blue/White Scrimmage on Aug. 17 in Carmichael Arena. The following Saturday, UNC welcomes Coastal Carolina for a preseason scrimmage Aug. 24.

"We open up the season with our Blue & White Scrimmage," Sagula said. "With our squad of 18, it will be a great chance to see how we have developed in the preseason. The next weekend we will play Coastal Carolina at home which will be a great test for our team. We know Coastal Carolina has a good veteran squad and is always a challenging team."

The Tar Heels open their season at home, hosting the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at Carmichael Arena Aug. 30-31. UNC takes on Minnesota in the home opener and Wisconsin to close out the weekend – two teams ranked top 10 in the AVCA post-season poll.

"We open up the season at home with the ACC/Big Ten Challenge," Sagula said. "We know we'll have our hands full playing against veteran and highly skilled Minnesota and Wisconsin teams. Both perennially top-10 programs which will test us right out of the gate. I think we'll feel more prepared this year knowing that our young team has the experience from last year to learn from. Five of our starting six are back from last year and that Being home will be very exciting for our team and fans to start the season. We've never shied away from playing the best in the country. We feel that that will prepare us well for the season ahead."

Traveling to California for the first time since 2015, Carolina heads to the UC Irvine/Adidas Invitational Sept. 6-7. The Tar Heels take on Cal and host, UC Irvine on Sept. 6 and wrap up the tournament with UNLV Saturday.

"At UC Irvine, we will see teams that we haven't seen in quite some time. It will be a good chance for our west coast teams to be closer to home in their time zone. This is an opportunity for us to face three different types of teams."

Carolina remains on the road to face Miami (Ohio) for a neutral site match in Rochester, Michigan on Sept. 13 before taking on the Spartans of Michigan State on their home court in East Lansing, Michigan on Sept. 15. Friday's match will be the first meeting of the Redhawks and Tar Heels since 2011. Carolina will look to bounce back from the 1-3 loss against the Spartans at home in 2018.

"When we travel to the Midwest," Sagula said, "we'll face Miami (Ohio) who is on the rise in their league and Michigan State who I think is pretty similar to us with a younger program.

UNC wraps up nonconference play with the annual Carolina Classic, hosting VCU, Colgate and Radford in Carmichael Arena Sept. 20-21. The Tar Heels most recently swept VCU in 2014 and will face both Colgate and Radford for the first time in program history.

"With the Carolina Classic," Sagula said, "we will see three teams that are consistently competitive in their conference and have a rich volleyball tradition at their schools in Colgate, Radford and VCU. It will make for a very competitive tournament to wrap up non-conference play."

North Carolina begins ACC play on the road at Notre Dame on Sept. 27 and 2018 NCAA Tournament participant, Louisville on Sept. 29. Carolina travels to NC State on Oct. 2 for its only match on the ACC Network this season.

"We like our ACC schedule," Sagula said. "We're going to play some tough teams off the bat. We play Florida State, Duke, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest twice this season. We know it's always a battle when we open up against Notre Dame and Louisville and we've done this now for a few years in a row. The nice thing for us is that we get to play some teams that we lost to last year on the road, we get them at home this year. This schedule prepares us and gives us the opportunity to reach our goals for the 2019 season."

UNC opens its home ACC slate against Virginia Tech on Oct. 6 before acing Miami (10/11) and Florida State (10/13). Carolina travels to 2018 ACC Champion Pittsburgh (10/18) and Virginia (10/20) before a four-match homestand. The Tar Heels host Syracuse, Boston College, Georgia Tech and Clemson – each of which Carolina fell to on the road in 2018.

The Tar Heels travel to Duke (11/7), Wake Forest (11/10) and Florida State (11/17). UNC wraps up its home slate with another Thursday match vs. Duke (11/21) and Wake Forest (11/27) before concluding the regular season at Virginia Tech (11/29)

The 2019 NCAA Tournament begins on Dec. 7. The first four rounds will be hosted on campus sites according to seeding by the NCAA Selection Committee. The NCAA Semifinals and Championship will be held at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania December 19 and 21, 2019.

Visit GoHeels.com for the complete schedule.

Stay up to date with Carolina Volleyball by following the Tar Heels on Twitter and Instagram.

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