The North Carolina volleyball team entered the weekend with an 11-0 record, but by the time it was over, they sat at 11-2.
After losing its opening ACC matchup to No. 4 Pittsburgh on Friday, the team dropped another conference match to Virginia on Sunday 3-1.
Although the Tar Heels were aggressive at the net with 52 kills — two more than Virginia — the Cavaliers’ hitting percentage of .209 gave them an edge over UNC, which had a hitting percentage of .180. UVA also had more than twice the number of blocks, registering 16 compared to UNC’s seven.
Head coach Joe Sagula said the team may have been a bit too confident heading into the matchup against Virginia.
“I think we really did focus during the week on Pitt, trying to be prepared for both teams this week, but two very different style teams,” Sagula said. “So we knew we had to be able to play up one speed, one type of tempo against Pittsburgh, and it was gonna be a different type of tempo against Virginia. It's hard to make that adjustment in one day.”
After Virginia defeated UNC in the first set, 25-17, the Tar Heels came ready to play in the second. They increased their hitting percentage from .037 in the first set to .235 in the second.
The Tar Heels picked up an early lead in the second set, which Sagula said allowed the team to play more freely — something they weren’t able to do in the other sets, which were high pressure and pretty close.
“We kept telling the team to stay aggressive, just to go after it harder and take more swings. I think we were hitting a lot of off-speed shots early, and I think that helped us to put some pressure on Virginia.”
First-year Mabrey Shaffmaster had six kills in the second set, which the Tar Heels won, 25-15.