UNC volleyball loses in straight sets to California

The North Carolina volleyball team saw its season end in a 3-0 loss against California on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Berkeley, Calif.

The No. 4 Golden Bears outplayed unranked UNC in all aspects of the match, shutting down its usually stingy defense with a tall and powerful blocking front.

Junior All-ACC selection Kaylie Gibson recorded only 10 digs in the lopsided 25-13, 25-18, 25-18 loss.

Gibson, who averaged more than five digs per set during the season, was unable to compensate for the Tar Heels’ small net presence. All-Pac-10 selection Tarah Murrey dominated the net, leading the Golden Bears with 16 kills and a 0.382 hitting percentage.

California managed an impressive 0.376 hitting percentage and only eight hitting errors in the entire match. In the first set, Cal blasted a 0.414 hitting percentage against UNC, which only recorded two block assists in the match.

“We knew they were big and aggressive,” senior Suzanne Haydel said. “We are scrappy and defensive, and at times we were really good when we executed our game plan, but Cal is a good team.”

The Golden Bears’ height also proved too much for the Tar Heels’ offense. UNC logged a 0.085 hitting percentage, much lower than its season average of 0.210.

California’s blocking was prolific, chalking up 18 block assists and only one blocking error.

To make matters worse, the Tar Heels were without senior All-ACC selection and team leader in kills per set Courtney Johnston for most of the match. Johnston was limited to only one set of play due to an injury to the same knee in which she tore her ACL as a freshman.

At 6-foot-2, Johnston may have provided North Carolina with a solution to the Golden Bears’ tall blocking front.
But for most of the match, it seemed like Johnston’s presence wouldn’t have changed much against a Cal blocking front that was just too strong and big for the Tar Heels to handle.

“They’re big — their pin-blockers, their outsides,” UNC coach Joe Sagula said. “We tried not to go against (Murrey) too often and their right side blocker, Correy Johnson. We don’t see that much size week after week, and it was tough.”

While the Tar Heels lacked size and power against California, UNC was not lacking in momentum coming into Saturday’s match after a 3-1 win against Mississippi in its first round match Friday.

North Carolina put on a defensive clinic, holding the Rebels to a 0.015 hitting percentage. The Tar Heels didn’t allow Mississippi a single point off its serve in the fourth and final set of the match.

North Carolina struggled offensively, recording a mediocre 0.167 hitting percentage. But Sagula said the Tar Heels played well enough on defense to make up for their lackluster offensive performance.

“It was a defensive-oriented game,” Sagula said. “This is a typical kind of North Carolina match; it’s not always pretty, but we found a way to win at the end and be effective.”

The Tar Heels ended their season with 25 wins, the most since a 32-4 mark in 2002.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.