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I went to a soccer game and a volleyball match broke out.
Friday night was a pretty amazing happening on the Carolina campus. It ended with a field hockey match, Erin Matson’s second team and defending national champions beating Syracuse 5-0 in their ACC opener to go 5-0 on the season.
Before that, I was headed for the men’s soccer game on Dorrance Field, where the sixth-ranked Tar Heels faced No. 18 N.C. State in what is always an arch rivalry renewal.
Before going in, the fiend I was meeting texted to say he was watching volleyball in Carmichael Arena, so I stopped by. The Tar Heels of second-year coach Mike Schall were playing undefeated Michigan in the first round of the ACC-Big Ten challenge.
The old Blue Heaven had a nice crowd that sounded louder than the actual attendance. The portion of Jeff Fuchs’ marching band assigned to volleyball was blasting out a familiar refrain at every UNC point. The Tar Heels were underdogs to the Maize and Blue but were not to be denied even after losing the first game in a best-of five.
The rules are ever-changing in volleyball, and the first thing I noticed was one of nine players wears a different color jersey than the other eight. Turns out, she is the Libero, a defensive specialist who can only play on the back row. And for UNC, that was 5-10 junior Maddy May.
The game now allows almost free substitutions and awards a point on getting the serve as well as winners. Schall’s Tar Heels looked slightly smaller than the Wolverines but battled back from losing the first 25-point game to win the next two and went into the three-game break favored to win the match.
At the pause, we went over to soccer, where Carlos Somoano’s team held a 1-0 lead over State on a goal by former Wolfpacker Luke Hille. Then, in the 74th minute, Ahmad Al-Qaq took a short pass from Tate Johnson and fired a beauty to the top of the goal mouth and the Heels completed their fourth shutout of the season.
We went back to Carmichael to see if volleyball was still happening, and sure enough Michigan had tied the match by winning the fourth game to set up the 15-pont finale.
The deciding game was close until the Tar Heels went on a run to pull away with the final five points. Sophomore Safi Hampton and senior Mabrey Shaffmaster combined for 43 of the team’s 62 kills, and May served out the match that ended with Hampton’s winning kill for a 15-10 victory.
On a beautiful weekend in Chapel Hill, Friday night was spectacular and headed for Saturday’s noon football kickoff against James Madison. Of course, that is a whole different story that we won’t tell at this time.
Featured image via UNC Volleyball on Twitter
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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