Tar Heels Sweep N.C. State to Win ACC Opener

The No. 15 Tar Heels opened their ACC season with a solid 3-0 sweep of the Wolfpack Friday night.

The victory is the team's fifth in a row and seventh straight year it's opened conference play with a win.

UNC coach Joe Sagula emphasized that he considers the team 1-0, instead of 13-1. He said that the win was also important because the Tar Heels (13-1, 1-0 in the ACC) want to remain undefeated at home.

"Every win that we have early in the season, (especially) every win at home, is very important because playing on the road is going to be a lot more of a challenge," Sagula said.

State (2-16, 0-1) came out surprisingly strong, taking an early 7-5 lead. But, senior middle hitter Holly Strauss kept the team in contention with four kills.

Strauss said setter Eve Rackham looked to her early because the Wolfpack defenders were more concerned with the outside threat.

"When their blockers are concentrated on our outside, its good that I'm in the middle to depend on," Strauss said.

With State forced to shift their focus to the middle, UNC won 10 of the next 12 points and took the the game 30-23.

Strauss averages only 2.17 kills per game, but led all players with seven kills in the first game and 10 for the night.

In the second game UNC came out sloppy. The Wolfpack claimed a 3-0 lead after the Tar Heels allowed a serve to fall untouched in between them, prompting Sagula to burn an early timeout.

"I thought we were very lackadaisical -- and I rarely call timeouts that early," Sagula said.

UNC responded by taking the next five points and opening up an 11-6 lead.

But State began to chip away. With UNC clinging to a 16-15 lead, Laura Greene smacked a spike off the hands of the Wolfpack blockers, and the ball flew toward the seats behind the baseline. It seemed the Tar Heels would win the point, but the State player in pursuit of the ball crashed into a child standing on the court, as the ball fell in front of her.

After the referees debated the play, they decided that the point should be re-played.

UNC didn't lament over the lost point, and closed out the game on a 14-3 run.

"(It was) at a point where it was very close, and then we went off on a great run, and I was very proud of that; the way the team handled that situation," Sagula said. "It shows some very good character and experienced volleyball play."

In the final game, Sagula emptied out his bench, going with a lineup of freshmen and sophomores for most of the game.

The move gave UNC fans a glimpse at the program's future, and from Friday's performance, the future looks bright. The younger Tar Heels shut down State's starting unit 30-25.

Sagula said the performance by the second team gives him confidence for the remaining ACC schedule.

"The fact that we could have some fresh people in the third game and you can wear out opponents," he said. "And the fact that they get a taste of what is it like to win in an ACC match is going to be important throughout the season -- we've got 15 more to go."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.