The North Carolina volleyball team lost, 3-1, against Florida State on Sunday, its third loss in a row.
What happened?
UNC (5-10, 1-5 ACC) started out strong, taking the first set, 25-21, even jumping out to an 11-4 lead to begin. The Seminoles made an attempt to come back, cutting the set to as close as 20-18 before the Tar Heels pulled away. The second set was on equal footing for a while, before FSU scored six in a row to put themselves ahead 21-15, a lead that was too large for North Carolina to overcome. In the third and fourth sets, FSU controlled all the momentum, winning by 11 and 10 points respectively.
Who stood out?
Skylar Wine and Destiny Cox led the team in kills with 12 apiece, and first year Ava Bell added 11 kills of her own. Setter Hunter Atherton tallied 45 assists throughout the match as well. One of the biggest issues for the team was errors, with 28 total across four sets. Mia Fradenburg contributed to the defense with 22 digs.
When was it decided?
After the second set, the match looked to be a hard fought battle between two teams in the middle of disappointing seasons. The last two sets saw Florida State take complete control as UNC made error after error to give the sets away. In the fourth set, only eight of FSU’s 25 points came off kills.
Why does it matter?
North Carolina owns the second-worst record among ACC teams and is tied for last place in conference games. The team is young, with 11 out of 17 players classifying as either a first year or sophomore. Development for the future of the team should become one of the focuses as UNC goes through its remaining ACC schedule.
