Volleyball team celebrates four seniors with stellar careers

Sunday was Senior Day for North Carolina volleyball, featuring a pregame ceremony to honor the four-player class of 2010.

The two most decorated seniors are middle blockers Heather Brooks and Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland. Both were named to the 2008 All-ACC second team and picked for the 2009 preseason All-ACC team.

Although the two teammates now sport very similar credentials, each took a very different path to get there.

Brooks had an immediate impact when she joined the Tar Heels in 2006. She was a regular as a freshman, and in her next season, she recorded 1.42 blocks per set, the third-highest average in school history.

A four-year starter, Brooks has logged 444 career blocks and 782 career kills.

“She’s an incredible player,” classmate Megan Owens said. “Her work ethic, her performance, motivates everyone around her, and when she’s on, we’re all on.”

Hanson-Tuntland had no such impact in her first year with UNC. She redshirted in 2005 because of injury. The next two years she saw significant playing time, but not at middle blocker. She was used as a right-side hitter.

 “It wasn’t until last year we said, ‘Know what, full time you’re in the middle,’ — because of her block presence,” coach Joe Sagula said. “She was such a good blocker, and her lateral movement was so strong.”

Now in her second year as a middle blocker, Hanson-Tuntland has exploded offensively, registering 261 kills to go along with 75 blocks this season. That production has brought her career totals to 763 kills and 305 blocks.

 The Tar Heels are also graduating two outside hitters, including starter Branagan Fuller. Fuller played only one season for UNC after transferring from UNC-Greensboro, but in that season, she is one of only two Tar Heels, along with junior Suzanne Haydel, to rank in the top five on the team in kills, digs and service aces.

“I wish I had an opportunity to have coached her four years,” Sagula said. “She’s just a delight to have in the program.”

The other outside hitter is Owens, who faced a difficult path to her senior season. Sagula said she had issues with her back before the start of her freshman season, but she still played in 78 sets in that season. An ankle sprain the next year limited her to 59 sets.

Owen’s roughest year was last year, when she developed a problem in her shoulder that would limit her to 20 sets and require surgery the following spring.

Owens said Brooks, her best friend, helped her through those challenges.

“She has kept my head on straight for four years,” Owens said. “Through my career, I’ve had a lot of injuries, and she’s been a solid backbone for me. She’s kept me levelheaded.”

But Owens spent this year getting back to form to contribute to the Tar Heels, and that culminated in the senior day match. She registered 13 kills in 27 attempts with only one attack error — good for a game-high .444 hitting percentage and more kills than she’s gotten in a match since her freshman year.

“Just so happy for a player like her, especially at the very end she had a couple of tears in her eyes, and you get that when you realize all the hard work into all the rehab you put into it,” Sagula said.

“And hopefully we’ll get a couple more smiles out of her at the next five matches we have to play this year, as well.”



Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.