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The Daily Tar Heel

Volleyball victorious in first match between top-10 teams in ACC history

In Carmichael Arena on Friday, important firsts weighed on the minds of players and coaches.

The game between the No. 8 North Carolina volleyball team and No. 3 Florida State was the first ever match between top-10 opponents in ACC history.

But on this historic night, in a battle for ACC supremacy, UNC grabbed the most important first — the top spot in the ACC standings.

The Tar Heels (22-2, 13-1 ACC) defeated Florida State (26-24, 19-25, 25-22, 25-20) and dealt the Seminoles (24-2, 12-2 ACC) their second loss in a row. The win was UNC's first victory against a top-3 opponent ever.

“I think this win is a significant stepping stone for the program for this year and the future,” Coach Joe Sagula said. “It’s a match that says we’re relevant on the national level. I told our team, this is one of a couple of big matches we want to win this year. Not just one, but one of several matches.”

The Tar Heels opened the match with a victorious first set and notched 16 kills. But Florida State, which swept UNC on Sept. 26 in Tallahassee, would not go down without a fight. The Seminoles held UNC to only a .114 hitting percentage in the second set, tying the match as a result.

Going into the locker room with the match tied 1-1, junior setter Jordyn Schnabl said the team was reminded of a mantra they’ve emphasized all season — ‘Teams cannot beat us if we don’t beat ourselves.’

And in the third and fourth sets, the Tar Heels killed a combined 28 balls and the lead exchanged hands only twice.

“We limited our errors and managed the game better,” Schnabl said. “Keeping balls in play if the set isn’t there and just getting balls up — it made a huge difference.”

Throughout the match, the Tar Heels dominated from behind the service line. UNC totaled eight service aces against the Seminoles, three coming from junior middle blocker Paige Neuenfeldt.

Senior libero Ece Taner, who leads the ACC with .45 serving aces per set, said that UNC’s serving helped slow down the Florida State offense.

“Serving and passing is always our main goal but for this game especially, serving was our mission,” Taner said. “We wanted to serve really hard and slow down their offense. Every time we went back there (to serve), we wanted to make them move and get out of system.”

The Tar Heels are atop the ACC standings for the first time all year, but UNC has not won a conference title since 2008.

And while Sagula was pleased with his team’s win in a battle for first place, he’s more concerned with winning the war.

“(First place) sounds great,” Sagula said.

“But it will sound better after our last match against Wake Forest.”

sports@dailytarheel.com

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