Hurricanes Fall to UNC in Four Games
Nov. 18, 2006
Chapel Hill, N.C. -The University of Miami volleyball team dropped a 1-3 (12-30, 30-24, 28-30, 26-30) decision to North Carolina Friday evening at the Carmichael Auditorium. With the loss, the Hurricanes fall to 10-18 overall and 7-12 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Senior Jill Robinson led the all players with 33 assists and dished out 11 digs, to post her fourteenth double-double. Senior Frannie Savage posted 10 kills and a career high 16 digs for her third double-double on the season.
Sophomore Ashley Woods contributed 11 kills, while defensively senior Ann Gallo registered 21 digs.
“Ann passed really well and played phenomenal defense”, commented head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch.
As a team, Miami registered 43 kills with only a -.017 hitting percentage. The Hurricanes were strong defensively as they posted 85 total digs and 18 team blocks, while posting 40 team assists.
“Unfortunately we had a lot of players struggling to get a kill”, stated Lantagne Welch
The Tar Heels (10-19, 8-12 ACC) came out in game one taking an early 16-4 lead, and never looked back. The Tar Heels ran away with a 30-12 game win and a 1-0 game lead.
Game two started as a close battle between both teams as 10 tied scores and six lead changes were posted before the Hurricanes finished with a 30-24 win. At 17-all, an attack error by UNC’s Heather Brooks, followed any another, gave Miami the momentum to take advantage, as they captured as 19-18 lead, and never looked back. With the Tar Heels down 22-25, two back-to-back kills by Lici McGee and Frannie Savage forced North Carolina to take a time-out with the score 27-22. UNC only put up two more scores back in the game, before the Hurricanes ran with the game, sending both teams into the locker room with one game-win apiece.
Miami jumped out to their second early lead of the match with the score at 16-11. The game stayed close, right down to the end as both teams were within one at the match point. At 20-17 with Miami in the lead, the Hurricanes went on a four point run, stretching their lead to seven at 24-17. Two back-to-back attack errors by Miami with UNC down 23-25, forced the Hurricanes to take a timeout. Back on the court, both teams battled for the lead up to match-point 29-28 with the Tar Heels leading off a kill by Megan Owens. One final kill by Owens sent the Tar Heels on their way to a two-game advantage with the score 30-28.
In game four, North Carolina led the entire way, despite a strong rally displayed by the Hurricanes down to the end. But it was North Carolina who captured the 30-26 win. As Miami trailed 20-25, the Tar Heels posted five back-to-back errors, as Miami rallied back to tie the score at 25-25.The next six sets saw two kills and a ball handling error off of North Carolina, and three attack errors by the Hurricanes. UNC ran away with the 30-26 game win, and the match victory.
“The bottom line it comes down to is, you have to learn how to score, in order to win”, said Lantagne Welch.
Miami will be back in action tomorrow as they take on N.C. State in Raleigh, N.C. The match is set to begin at 6:00 p.m.
