Hurricanes Face North Carolina and NC State in Regular Season Finale
Nov. 11, 2004
Coral Gables, Fla. –
The University of Miami volleyball team heads to the state of North Carolina for a two-match ACC road swing. The Hurricanes will face North Carolina Friday at 7:00 pm before taking on NC State Sunday at 1:00 pm to close out regular season play.
The Hurricanes come off back-to-back wins against Maryland and Virginia last weekend that improved their record to 14-8 overall and 9-5 in the ACC.
Leading the way for the Hurricanes are senior rightside hitter Valeria Tipiana and junior outside hitter Karla Johnson. Both players have recorded 4.54 and 3.70 kills per game respectively. Also contributing to the offense is senior outside hitter Elizabeth Tyson who has hit 27 kills for a 3.38 kills per game average in the last two matches. Sophomore Jill Robinson continues to run the offense, dishing out 1101 total assists this season.
Defensively, redshirt freshman Ciara Michel and redshirt sophomore Francheska Savage remain a force at the net combining for 24 total blocks (5BS, 19BA) against Maryland and Virginia. Senior libero Jamie Grass is the team leader with 4.45 digs per game.
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“The match against North Carolina is a huge match in terms of seedings for the ACC Championships and also for NCAA at-large possibilities,” Head Coach Nicole Lantagne Welch |
North Carolina is currently tied with the Hurricanes for second in the ACC standings. The Tar Heels will host Miami after dropping a five-game decision to Virginia Tech last Saturday.
“The match against North Carolina is a huge match in terms of seedings for the ACC Championships and also for NCAA at-large possibilities,” noted head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch. “It was a very competitive match-up last time around and should be more of the same on Friday. We will need to put together one of our best road performances on Friday.”
As a team, the Tar Heels are sixth in the ACC in hitting percentage (.222) and assists per game (14.23). They are also ranked second in digs (18.52pg), fifth in kills (15.61pg) and eighth in blocks (2.59pg) and aces (1.34pg). North Carolina is ranked 28th in the NCAA in digs per game (18.32pg).
Leading the Tar Heels offensive attack are Molly Pyles and Dani Neyehuis. Pyles’ 4.09 kills per game places her sixth in the ACC while Neyehuis is second on the team and seventh in the ACC with 4.09 kills per game. Setter McKenzie Byrd, has dished out 1135 assists for a 12.22 assists per game average which places her sixth in the ACC.
Defensively, Katie Wright is 10th in the ACC in blocks per game (1.18pg). Caroline deRoeck has registered a 462 total digs for a 4.67 digs per game average. She is sitting fourth in the ACC in digs per game.
NC State will face Miami with a 15-match winless streak. The Wolfpack have yet to pick up a win in ACC play after going 0-14 (10-18 overall) with only one weekend remaining in the regular season. They will face Florida State on Friday before hosting the Hurricanes Sunday.
As a team, the Wolfpack are ranked 29th in the NCAA and third in the ACC in blocks per game (2.89). The Wolfpack, however, are last in three of the six statistical categories.
Middle blocker Stefani Eddins tops the ACC’s blocks per game list with 1.51bpg, which also places her 26th among the NCAA leaders. Lauren Markowski averages 10.20 assists per game for 10th in the ACC while Melanie Rowe leads the team with a 3.22 kills per game average.
