Carolina Splits Day One of UC Irvine Invite, Sagula Earns 600th UNC Win

Friday, September 6

Irvine, Calif.

6 PM ET

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Carolina Splits Day One of UC Irvine Invite, Sagula Earns 600th UNC Win

September 7, 2019 | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

IRVINE, Calif. – Despite dropping Friday's opener vs. Cal, North Carolina bounced back to top UC Irvine, 3-1, as head coach Joe Sagula picked up his 600th UNC win Friday night at the UC Irvine/Adidas Invitational.

"To me this win tonight is win number one of the start of a lot of new things for this team," Sagula said. "I hope it will inspire us to know what we can become. I'm lucky to be at Carolina for 30 years and 600 wins. I've been fortunate to have a career in this sport for this long. When I come out here to California, I see coaches, officials who I've known for 40 years. I'm glad to share tonight with Susan, Mike, Kiki, Paula and this team. Hopefully this is win number one and the start of a great season for us."

Falling in straight sets to begin the day, Carolina bounced back in commanding fashion, from hitting .079 vs. Cal to .300 with 52 kills against UC Irvine – nearly double the first match. Annabelle Archer (43 assists), Parker Austin (22 kills), Destiny Cox (6 blocks), Skyy Howard (4 blocks) and Karenna Wurl (5 aces) set single-match career highs vs. UC Irvine.

"I don't think there was one thing that was the difference," Sagula said. "It was a lot of things. We hit a pretty big low earlier today and that was a gut check for our team. There was a lot discussion with the coaches and amongst the team. I think we came out more determined to work hard in the second match. We told them to play hard, the way we know how to, and not worry about making mistakes. Because of the effort, things fell our way early and we built some confidence. On top of that, some individuals really played great and took the steam away from Irvine. Our defense was outstanding today. We executed our game plan. We kept things simple and never lost control. There were chances but we played with enough freedom to stay aggressive."

Cal remains undefeated at 4-0. Carolina picked up its first win of the season to improve to 1-3 while UC Irvine split the day, sitting at 1-4 on the season.

Cal 3, UNC 0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-13)
Cal went on a five-point run for an 8-3 lead to begin the match. Carolina found some momentum as Lauren Harrison and Howard connected for the first block of the frame. However, Maddie Hayne's six kills kept Cal in the lead. The Tar Heels prevailed through one set point, but the Golden Bears took the first set, 25-15.

Carolina began the second set with a kill by Howard from Hunter Atherton. A Mia Fradenburg ace gave UNC the early 7-6 lead. However, Cal answered back with a pair of runs, forcing the Tar Heels to use both timeouts. Skylar Wine slugged four kills in the frame to lead UNC, but UNC could not overcome Cal who hit .467 in the set. The Golden Bears took a two set lead, taking the second, 25-15.

Cal's momentum continued in the third set for the sweep and 25-13 set win. Raleigh Clark and Destiny Cox connected for a block to give UNC its 10th point. But it was not enough as the Golden Bears attacked at a .538 clip as Rennie Savannah hit 10 errorless kills throughout the match. Haynes tacked on 14 lead the Golden Bears in the sweep.

Match One Stat Leaders
» Kills: Destiny Cox (9)
» Assists: Hunter Atherton (15)
» Digs: Mia Fradenburg (9)
» Blocks: Destiny Cox (2), Skyy Howard (2)

UNC 3, UC Irvine 1 (25-19, 25-20, 23-25, 25-22)
Wurl began the match with an ace to set up the Heels' 4-0 run to begin the match. Although the Anteaters brought the set within two, Cox and Katharine Esterley stuffed the attacker to maintain UNC's lead. A fifth kill from Austin gave Carolina set point before the freshman secured the Tar Heels' first set win of the season with an ace, 25-19.

Carolina's momentum continued as Howard slugged her fourth kill for a 9-2 lead. UC Irvine went on a run to bring the set within one, but the Tar Heels pulled away for the 25-20 win.

UC Irvine jumped to an early four point lead to begin the third set. Austin tipped the ball over the block and a pair of kills by Cox forced the Anteaters to use a second timeout. Howard and Archer formed Carolina's ninth block, however UC Irvine held on for the 25-23 win.

UNC and UC Irvine matched each other point-for-point to begin the set. Archer swatted down a kill from the front row and a Austin ace gave Carolina the 5-4 lead. An Archer-Harrison-Howard triple block extended the Tar Heels' lead to three. Fradenburg's ace and a solo block by Cox extended UNC's edge and forced an Anteaters timeout. UC Irvine responded with a four-point run to bring the set within one, 17-16. UCI used its second timeout as Carolina put up three-straight-blocks to make it 21-17. The Anteaters battled through one set point before Cox finalized the win, 25-22.

Match Two Stat Leaders
» Kills: Parker Austin (22), Destiny Cox (14)
» Assists: Annabelle Archer (43)
» Digs: Mia Fradenburg (10)
» Blocks: Destiny Cox (6)
» Aces: Karenna Wurl (5)

Noteworthy
» Annabelle Archer (43 assists), Parker Austin (22 kills), Destiny Cox (6 blocks), Skyy Howard (4 blocks) and Karenna Wurl (5 aces) set single-match career highs vs. UC Irvine.
» Sagula is the winningest coach in program history, the sixth winningest active Division I coach (11th in all divisions) and is the 16th winningest coach of all-time by victories.

Up Next
Carolina wraps up the UC Irvine/Adidas Invite Saturday at 6 p.m. ET with a neutral site matchup vs. UNLV.

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