Volleyball Opens Home Slate With Two Matches

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The first slate of home volleyball action kicks off this weekend as the Tar Heels take on Oral Roberts and Bucknell on Friday and Sunday. Volleyball is looking for its 17th 4-0 start to the season in program history.

Friday's 7 p.m. first serve against Bucknell will be the first time that the two programs play each other. Sunday's game against Oral Roberts. This will be the second time in program history that the Tar Heel will play Oral Roberts. The last time was the round of 64 NCAA tournament matchup in East Lansing in 1998 with Carolina coming out victorious.

Last time out:
The Tar Heels opened the season taking down both Coastal Carolina and Maryland 3-1 in Conway, S.C. Carolina has had three players with at least ten kills in both games. The last time this happened was last year, when the Tar Heels had a four-game streak from October 25 against No. 19 Florida, which lasted until November 3 against No. 16 Georgia Tech.

NEWS AND NOTES

WINS/A WIN WOULD...
- Be better than a loss
- Be the second consecutive 4-0 start for Carolina and the seventh since 2000
- Mark the 17th 4-0 start in program history
- Be the first ever win over Bucknell
SHINING IN CAROLINA BLUE DEBUTS
- Hailey Pearce, Meghan Clifford, and Sienna Cozza all impressed in their first weekend at UNC
- Pearce was dominant in both matches racking up 24 kills with a .525 hitting percentage
- Clifford made her first collegiate apperance on Sunday against Coastal Carolina where she had five kills and seven blocks
- Cozza came into her first game in the second set on Sunday and in three sets she dished out 18 assists. Her 6.00 assists per set where tied for the most on the team this weekend
BALANCED ATTACK
- In each of the first two matches, the Heels had three players with double digit kills
- Safi Hampton led the team with 14 against Maryland and 15 against Coastal Carolina
- Hailey Pearce had 11 and 13, Laynie Smith had 11 against Maryland, and Chelsea Thrope had 10 against Coastal Carolina
WELCOME HOME JEREMY YOUNG
- Bucknell's interim head coach Jeremy Young graduated from UNC with a master's
degree in education in 2010. He coached at UNC during the 2018 season and spent seven years coaching at Triangle Volleyball Club, a club that four current UNC players played at
WELCOME TO THE SAFI SHOW
- Safi Hampton was named to the 2025 Preseason All-ACC Team
- Hampton returns for her junior season after a breakout sophomore campaign. In 2024 she led all returning Tar Heels in kills (291), points per set (3.27), and points (342.0)
O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
- The 2025 leadership team consists of Zoe Behrendt, Chelsea Thrope, Safi Hampton, Maddy May, Erin Curtis
THE CLUB CONNECTION
- Incoming transfers Laynie Smith and Emily Bobbitt will have a connection before they ever play in Carolina blue together
- The two played together at Triangle Volleyball Club
- Triangle is also where Erin Curtis and Maddy May played club prior to college
- Erin Curtis' father, Jason, co-founded the club
- Head coach Mike Schall served as an associate director at Triangle before arriving in Chapel Hill
YEAR THREE OF THE SCHALL ERA
- Entering year three, Coach Schall looks to build off the momentum of years one and two
- Carolina is receiving votes in the AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll and was picked fifth in the ACC Preseason Coaches Poll
- In year one he went 13-14 and turned that around with a 23-8 record in 2024 with the first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2021
- UNC's first round victory over Yale was its first NCAA Tournament since 2016's 3-1 win over Coastal Carolina
WIN THE STATE
- Starting Sept. 16, the Tar Heels will have six of seven matches against five in-state
opponents
- App State, ECU, Wake Forest, NC State, and Duke will all come to Chapel Hill with the stretch concluding on Oct. 4 with a trip to Duke
- In Coach Schall's time at Carolina he holds a 6-4 record against in-state opponents
CAROLINA ON MY MIND
- UNC's first 14 matches take place in either North Carolina or South Carolina
- During that stretch the Tar Heels will take on five opponents from North Carolina and three opponents from South Carolina
- Coach Schall 11-5 against teams from North and South Carolina
BEHIND THE SCHEDULE
- The Tar Heels will square off with 10 different teams that reached the NCAA Tournament last season
- Seven of those teams reached the second round, four made it to the regional semifinals, three made the
regional finals, two reached the national semifinals, and one was the national runner-up
- Five teams were in the top 25 of the final RPI last season and five more were between 26-50
- Carolina will make its first trip to Stanford in program history on Nov. 7, it'll also be
making just the second trip to Berkeley to take on Cal on Nov. 9. The first trip happened in 2010
ATHLETIC PEDIGREE
- Jackie Taylor's father, Sean, played football for the University of Miami from 2001-2003 and was a member of the 2001 BCS National Championship team. He was the No. 5 pick in the 2004 NFL Draft to the Washington Redskins where he was a two-time Pro-Bowl Selection (2006, 2007)
-Her mom, Jackie García, was a midfielder on the women's soccer team at the University of Miami
- Cadence Shea's father, Aaron, was a four-year letter winner on the University of
Michigan football team from 1995-1999, before playing in the NFL from 2000-2006. Mother, Caitlin, was a fouryear letter winner on the Lehigh University soccer team from 1996-1999. Aaron was roommates with Tom Brady in college and Brady is the godfather to Cadence's brother
- Erin Curtis', father Jason was a captain on the Santa Clara men's volleyball team, sister Emily was a setter at Villanova and sister Maggie was a defensive specialist at Santa Clara
- Julia Bohlinger: Father Rob played football at the University of Wyoming (1993-98) and professionally in the NFL for the Carolina Panthers as a left tackle
- Carson Overbeck's mom, Carla, was a three-time All-America and four-time NCAA
Champion on the UNC soccer team from 1986-89. She captained the 1995 U.S. World Cup squad that advanced to the semifinals and also served as captain of the 1996
U.S. Women's Soccer Olympic Team that won the gold medal. She is currently an assistant coach for the Duke women's soccer team

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Players Mentioned

Zoe Behrendt

Emily Bobbitt

Julia Bohlinger

Meghan Clifford

Sienna Cozza

Erin Curtis

Safi Hampton

Maddy May

Hailey Pearce

Cadence Shea

Laynie Smith

Jackie Taylor