Homestand Continues for Volleyball
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Continuing its four-matchhomestand, the University of Miami volleyball team will host North CarolinaState and North Carolina in a pair of important Atlantic Coast Conferencematches on Friday (7 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) at the Knight Sports Complex.The Wolfpack are first in the league standings, while the Hurricanes and TarHeels are two of four teams tied for second.
“NCState and North Carolina are both great volleyball teams,” head coach NicoleLantagne Welch said. “We are excited to have them come to our gym and we have alot of work to do to get ready. Every weekend in the ACC is a challenge.”
Miami(12-3, 4-1) defeated both Duke, 3-1, and Wake Forest, 3-0, most recently toextend its home winning streak to 12. Sophomore middle blocker Emani Sims, whowas named ACC Player of the Week (Oct. 1), totaled 32 kills on a .500 hittingpercentage for the weekend to spark the attack. Miami enters the weekend leadingthe conference in kills (810), assists (757) and digs (976), while being rankedNo. 23 in the first RPI release.
“Somethingwe have seen is that we can play with any team we face and that is exciting,”Lantagne Welch said in regards to being at the midway point of the season. “Wehave also had a couple matches that were less than we thought we were capableof. We are working to improve our consistency and look forward to a lot ofgreat things happening as we move forward.”
NorthCarolina State (15-1, 5-0) is currently in first place in the ACC standings andon a 10-match winning streak. The Wolfpack have played their last 13 matches athome and have not been on the road since Aug. 25. Brie Merriwether (152 kills)and Nikki Glass (147 kills) lead the offense, while Alexa Micek (184 digs)paces the defense. Setter Megan Cyr has accumulated 610 assists. Miami leadsthe all-time series, 14-1, and has won the last three meetings.
NorthCarolina (13-2, 4-1) has also played well this season, having won its last fivematches. An NCAA Tournament team last season, the Tar Heels are led this yearby 162 kills from Emily McGee and 229 digs from Ece Taner. UNC is 8-0 at home and 1-2 on the road so farand is tied in the series with UM, 10-10. The teams each won on their homecourt last season.
A livepremium stream of both matches will be provided at Canes All Access, with livestats also available at HurricaneSports.com. WVUM will call both matches at88.7-FM, online at wvum.org and on the official iPhone application.
The UMTicket Office is pleased to offer single game tickets to home volleyball matchesat the Knight Complex for as low as $3. Call 1-800-GO-CANES to order yourtickets today.
For all the latest information on MiamiHurricanes volleyball, follow the official Twitter feed, @CanesVB, or “Like Us”on Facebook at facebook.com/MiamiHurricanes.
