Carolina Drops Weekend Finale at Michigan State

Sunday, September 15

East Lansing, Mich.

1 PM

North Carolina

1-6

Michigan State

5-1

North Carolina

Michigan St.

Photo by: Austin Mariasy

September 15, 2019 | Volleyball

Box Score

EAST LANSING, Mich. – North Carolina wrapped up its five-match road trip with a three-set loss at Michigan State Sunday afternoon in Jenison Field House.

Battling through 16 tie scores and 10 lead changes, the Tar Heels kept the first two sets within reach. However, the home court advantage gave Michigan State the edge it needed for the win. MSU improves to 6-1 while Carolina falls to 1-6.

Making her first career start, a block by Carly Peck and Aristea Tontai earned UNC the first point of the match. A second UNC block and an ace by Tontai set up a two-point edge for the Tar Heels early. Michigan State went on a 4-0 run as UNC called a timeout, but Parker Austin slugged her fourth kill after the break. Carolina responded with a four-point run of its own to knot the frame at 19-all. The Spartans answered back with a another run to take a 23-19 lead. The Tar Heels brought it within three on a kill from Skylar Wine and MSU attacking error, but the Spartans took the first set, 25-21.

Back-to-back kills from Wine set up a 9-5 lead for Carolina as Michigan State used its first timeout. However, the Spartans knotted the set up at 11-all. MSU continued to attack going on a 5-1 run, forcing a Carolina timeout. Wine hit her sixth kill through the block coming out of the break. UNC battled point-for-point to close out the set, but Michigan State took the frame, 25-21.

Skyy Howard tallied her fourth kill and Mia Fradenburg aced the Spartans to tie it up at 5-5. Carolina used a timeout to break up the four-point Spartan run on a slew of errors. With MSU's Meredith Norris at the line the Spartans went on a 6-0 run before Peck broke through the block for a kill. The Tar Heels managed to put up three in a row, featuring Austin's first aces of the match. However, the Spartans hit .417 in the frame for the 25-13 decision and three-set win.

Michigan State's Alyssa Chronowski led the Spartans with 10 kills while Rebecka Poljan slugged seven without an error. Poljan posted eight blocks of the Spartan's 12 total.

Carolina Stat Leaders
» Kills: Parker Austin (9)
» Assists: Annabelle Archer (21)
» Digs: Mia Fradenburg (11)
» Blocks: Aristea Tontai (3), Skylar Wine (3), Skyy Howard (3)

Up Next
The Tar Heels travel home to host VCU, Colgate and Radford in the annual Carolina Classic Friday and Saturday in Carmichael Arena.

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