UNC Volleyball recently wrapped up its preseason practices and is ramping up to its 2025 season with high aspirations. The team is coming off its best season in roughly a decade, which featured the Tar Heels not only making the 2024 NCAA Tournament but earning a first round win before falling to No. 1 seed Penn State.
As Head Coach Mike Schall enters his third year at the helm of the program and eighth in Chapel Hill, he leads a group of players looking to re-establish Carolina as a contender — both in the ACC and nationally. Schall visited 97.9 The Hill studios on Friday, Aug. 15 for an interview with 97.9 The Hill’s Brighton McConnell and said he is “thrilled” with the team’s preseason performance. The coach also shared thoughts on the returning leadership of the squad, the new talent coming in, his approach to focusing on his program amid sweeping changes to college athletics and more.
Below are highlights of Schall’s responses, which have been lightly edited for clarity and organized by topic. To listen to the full interview, click here.
On Building Off the Program’s NCAA Tournament Bid and Performance in 2024
I think it was a solid foundation that was built by last year’s group — the good news is we have a lot of players coming back who had significant roles last year, and I like how our roster shaped up in the offseason. And I credit the staff for bringing in several transfers and the freshmen who are coming in. I feel like our roster is very balanced from freshmen to seniors…there’s not a player on our roster who won’t have the opportunity to, to compete and contribute. And that’s always a tricky thing as you go through preseason: you’re trying to get better, build the systems that you think are important, and then figure out who are the six kids that are going to be on the floor at the beginning of the year. It’s a great problem to have that we have some tough decisions to make, but I think this is a team that is hungry to build on what we did last year, take the lessons that we learned from last season, and they’re hungry for more.
We want to be a program that’s in the consistent conversation of, “Who is going to the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight and eventually the Final Four?” And we’re not there yet. I don’t want to come across as sounding like that’s easy to do — it takes time, it takes a lot of hard work. It takes commitment, it takes a supportive university and it takes a group of kids that are just hungry to take another step. So, I think we’re ready to go…I like what I’ve seen so far, and we’re excited to put uniforms on and play somebody different.
On the ACC’s Competitiveness and Breaking Into its Contenders
We love the competition that the ACC brings. The last several years, Pitt and Louisville have really set the standard — I have great respect for their programs and what they’ve been able to accomplish. And then you throw in Stanford and SMU last year…they’re doing great things, they get incredible support by their universities. And, you know, I’m proud to play in the conference that we do. There is not a match on our schedule in the ACC that you look at and say, “Okay, let’s cruise through this one.” We don’t believe in that in general, but the competitive nature of the conference from top to bottom has gotten better and better since my first year as an assistant in 2018. So, we’re excited for the ACC schedule, but have plenty of work to do in the nonconference [portion] too.
UNC volleyball saw senior outside hitter Mabrey Shaffmaster graduate in 2024 after marking her place in the program’s record books. She finished fourth in Carolina history in service aces, seventh in kills and made the All-ACC team all four seasons. (Photo via UNC Athletic Communications/Anthony Sorbellini.)
On How to Replace Mabrey Shaffmaster and Other Departing Players’ Production
I think when you’re in the role that I am [in], you analyze what are the gifts that each player brings. And Mabrey certainly did [incredibly] for us for four solid years…every part of her game got better and better as her career went along. And you don’t just plug somebody into that spot, I think you take a look at the gifts that we have. You know, somebody like Safi Hampton, who really had a breakout year last year as a sophomore, Safi’s one of the more creative players that I’ve ever been around, in terms of what she can do athletically. Her passing has improved tremendously over last year. And then you look at, okay, “Where’s the offensive production gonna come from?” We have Chelsea Thorpe on the right side coming back, and she’s playing her best volleyball of her career. And Laynie Smith has come into the mix — all the local people in Chapel Hill will be excited to see [her] in a Carolina uniform after transferring from Illinois last year. She went to Chapel Hill High School and she’s excited to be back.
And the veteran leadership that Maddy May and Zoe Behrendt provide at two key positions for us…we feel good about the makeup of our team. We feel good about what it is that they believe in and what they bring to the gym every day. You know, they’re not punching a clock [and] just showing up. They understand the importance of the hard work that they have to put in, but also how connected they need to be as a team. And I’m grateful for their leadership [so] that I don’t have to worry too much about that — they understand the importance of being connected as a group.
UNC Volleyball Head Coach Mike Schall visits the 97.9 The Hill studios for an interview ahead of the 2025 season. (Photo by the Chapel Hill Media Group.)
On Building the Program Alongside the Changes and Uncertainty in College Athletics
We tend to focus on the things that are certain, and my responsibility as a head coach is to surround our team with great people — and we do that with our staff. We have tremendous assistant coaches and tremendous support staff. And our role in all of this is to give them a great experience and help them become their best, individually and collectively. We have a saying in our program: “Love each other, love the game, and love Carolina.” And despite everything going on in college athletics that is completely out of our control, we can control that. We can control how we take care of each other. We can control how we show up each day to, to get better at what we’re doing. And we happen to be at a university that’s easy to fall in love with and and to represent. we’re really proud to represent the University of North Carolina.
I also have to pay attention to what is going on…that’s the other part of my role. And I’m so excited with the growth of volleyball across the country — and even locally, the sport of volleyball at the youth levels has just absolutely taken off over the last 10 years. We’re really proud of that and we have a responsibility in that [we must deliver in our own level of play].
You hear the phrase a lot, especially with the transfer portal and the ease at which players can go from school to school, “You have to recruit your own team year after year.” And while I understand the sentiment, the way I look at it and the way we we run our program is: we want to give our kids an unforgettable experience. It’s not about recruiting them year after year, it’s about treating them the right way. It’s about giving them the opportunities to compete at the highest level, to go to an incredible school, to be around other successful students, other successful teams, other successful athletes and coaches. I think what we’re seeing in our program right now is we’ve attracted kids who love being here, who love being part of something special. And we’re excited to see where our program goes and where the future of the sport goes.
On What Fans Can Expect and How to Support UNC Volleyball
So, when people come to a volleyball match at Carmichael, we want to put on a good show. We want to play great together. We want to give local fans —whether they’re youth players or senior citizens who are out looking for something to do on a Friday evening — a team that they can get behind and cheer for.
We want you to come out, we want you to see a great group of kids compete at the highest level. We’ve got a great home schedule. We have Florida coming in on Sep. 9… it’s a Tuesday night, so I’m trying to get all the high schools to reschedule their Tuesday night matches because it’s going to be a great match. But then we also have Louisville coming to town. We have Pitt, SMU coming to town. And, you know, while those may get people’s attention, we have a number of home matches throughout the season that we’d love for as many people around to be there and support us.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Ainsley E. Fauth.
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