The UNC volleyball team won 3-2 in an exciting five-set match against Duke Wednesday afternoon at Carmichael Arena.

With the win, Carolina improves to 25-2 overall and remains in first place in the ACC standings. Duke drops to 21-7 overall and 13-4 in the conference.

“I thought Duke was phenomenal and the defense was relentless today,” UNC Coach Joe Sagula says. “It was hard to put a ball down. But in the end we found enough good plays to win. We play against each other all the time and I think we both brought the best out of each other today.”

Lauren McAdoo had 14 kills for UNC with two aces, two blocks and seven digs. Senior Ece Taner had a career-high 30 digs while Leigh Andrew led North Carolina with a career-high 18 kills and 15 digs in the match.

“Leigh had 18 kills to lead us and was so sneaky.  Lauren McAdoo, I thought she had a career day. And in terms of her play, her attitude, her mentality, she did, this was her best match,“ Sagula says.

Joe SagulaUNC was able to clinch the first set, 25-19, but had a slower start in the second set and fell short to Duke, 24-26. The back-and-forth match continued as Carolina took the 3rd set, 25-19, and Duke took it right back in the 4th set, 32-30, to tie up the match.

Senior Chaniel Nelson won the match for the Tar Heels in the 5th set, 15-13, knocking a kill off a block from the Blue Devils. The Tar Heels will play Wake Forest Friday at Carmichael at 2 p.m. to round out the regular season.

“Right now, I told them tomorrow that we are coming to practice, because Friday is the day that we play to win a championship,” Sagula says.

 

FINAL BOX SCORE