Heels Open 2021 With Victories over Stephen F. Austin and Pacific

Friday, August 27

University Park, Texas

10 AM

North Carolina

1-0,0-0ACC

Stephen F. Austin

0-1,0-0WAC

SFA

North Carolina

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

Heels Open 2021 With Victories over Stephen F. Austin and Pacific

August 27, 2021 | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas – The UNC volleyball team opened the 2021 regular season with back-to-back wins at the SMU Doubletree Invitational on Friday, defeating Stephen F. Austin in straight sets before downing Pacific 3-1.

In her collegiate debut, freshman Mabrey Shaffmaster combined for a team-high 21 kills, while Kaya Merkler and Nia Parker-Robinson each recorded 20. Graduate transfer Meghan Neelon split time with Annabelle Archer as the main setter for Carolina, racking up 43 assists.

Defensively, Merkler put up a combined eight blocks between the two matchups. As a team, the Heels had a .276 hitting clip on Friday.

UNC, 3 SFA 0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-22)
After a slow start, trailing Stephen F. Austin 3-1 to open the match, the Tar Heels kicked their offense into gear, going on an 11-1 run to hold a 12-4 advantage. Carolina went on to win the set 25-19, holding the Lumberjacks to a -0.026 clip.

Kaya Merkler and Mabrey Shaffmaster combined to make up 10 of the Tar Heels' 15 kills in the first set, with Merkler leading the match with a .600 hitting percentage. In the second set, Carolina got behind again, trailing 9-5 early. A 9-2 run put the Tar Heels back in control, 15-11.

Carolina weathered a five-point run that put the Lumberjacks just a point shy of tying the lead at 22. But three kills, two from Skyy Howard and one from Emily Zinger, helped seal a 25-22 set two victory for UNC.

The third set was a back-and-forth battle that included eight ties and three lead changes. Carolina had its best hitting set of the match with a team hitting percentage of .333. That, combined with six kills from Howard, helped close out the set 25-22 and give the Tar Heels their first victory of the season. Merkler (11) and Howard (10) finished the match will double-digit kills while Meghan Neelon led the team with 23 assists.

UNC 3, Pacific 1 (25-17, 25-22, 22-25, 25-16)
After a three-hour break between their match with SMU, the Heels returned to Moody Arena for a matchup with Pacific.

Carolina jumped out to an early lead with a 11-4 advantage over the Tigers at the first timeout. Behind a strong defensive net presence from Zinger and Merkler, who each recorded three kills in the set, Carolina was able to hold on to the lead and earn their fourth straight set victory of the tournament, 25-17.

Pacific proved harder to put away in the second set, even after the Tar Heels jumped out to an early 13-7 lead at the first timeout. The Tigers went on a 12-3, going ahead 19-16. Back-to-back points from Merkler helped the Heels regain the lead and earn the set victory 25-22.

Carolina faced its first real adversity of the season in set three, with the Tigers narrowly edging them out for a 25-22 set victory. The Heels rallied for the match win in the fourth set, holding Pacific to just 16 points. Robinson-Parker finished the match with a team-high 14 kills, followed closely behind 12 from Shaffmaster.

The Heels will close out their trip to Texas on Saturday with a 2 p.m. matchup with SMU, which will stream on ESPN+.

Notables:

It was the first time since the 2016 season that Carolina has won the first two games of the season
UNC and Pacific are now even a one win apiece in the all-time series. The last matchup between the two schools was Dec. 4, 1982, in Stockton, Calif.
This was the first matchup in program history between Stephen F. Austin and Carolina