An uncharacteristic number of errors made UNC's win against Clemson harder

North Carolina won Wednesday night’s match against Clemson the hard way.

UNC committed 11 attack errors and four service errors in the second set — literally scoring more points for Clemson than Clemson scored for themselves in that set.

The Tar Heels bookended their 3-1 victory against Clemson with consistent, hard-fought sets. Coach Joe Sagula said the error-filled middle sets were indicative of a group of players still trying to find their places in this year’s deep lineup.

“That’s why we had all of those errors,” he said. “People were trying to freewheel, and we can’t function that way. We have to play within what the system is asking for.”

After taking the first set by 11 points, UNC found itself down early in the second set. The crowd roared during every Clemson serve, but the Tar Heels seemed more distracted than the visitors.

“We’re a team that has a lot of big, physical hitters,” said senior Emily McGee, one of those hitters. “We pass, set, hit like a machine, so when that’s not working, we get frustrated. So we have to find other ways to win, different ways to execute.

“It was definitely frustrating not playing that way after just seeing how we could play.”

Time after time, a Tar Heel attacker would jump and wind up — only to hit the ball into the net or out of play. Someone would make a spectacular dig, but the ball would fall to the floor as players struggled to decide who would make the set.

“We got angry, which always makes us play well,” senior setter Cora Harms said. “We should always beat them — they’re a good team, but we’re better than them in every position, so we should always beat them. We should be angry they took a set from us.”

UNC didn’t manage to right the ship immediately. The Tar Heels still committed seven errors in the third set, but the Tigers helped UNC out with 10 of their own.

Most critical, though, were the adjustments in focus UNC was able to make in the final two sets. And Sagula said not all errors are signs of poor play.

“That was really bad,” he said. “But the service errors, I don’t mind. I think we needed to serve tough. From what I remember, they weren’t gross service errors in the net. We had four aces and seven errors. I’ll take that overall. It’s not bad.”

Sagula also said he noticed that Clemson did a good job taking sophomore opposite hitter Chaniel Nelson out of rhythm — her four service errors were uncharacteristic — but said that he was pleased with how other players stepped up and proved they could adjust to a defense that wasn’t acquiescing to UNC’s usual game plan.

“We made some unforced errors,” he said. “We’re a work in progress, but if you’re a work in progress and you’re winning along the way, that’s a good thing.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.