North Carolina women’s volleyball has announced its 2015 season schedule – one of the most challenging in recent memory. The Tar Heels will play eight teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2014, including four that made it to the second round.

Head coach Joe Sagula, who is entering his 26th season at UNC, noted the challenges in the schedule for the upcoming season.

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UNC Volleyball (UNC Athletics)

“I think our schedule in 2015 is one of the toughest we have ever played,” Coach Sagula says. “I think it will challenge us with the diversity of teams we are going to see, from the Pac 12 to the Big West and Big Ten. We play four Big Ten schools. I think it is really going to give us a good idea of our team since we will be playing so many NCAA-caliber teams. It is a good year for us to play this kind of schedule, with several veterans returning and a talented incoming class. This team will be ready for the challenge.”

Included in the schedule is a trip out west where the Heels will face Southern Cal and 2014 NCAA tournament runners-up BYU. For their ACC-Big Ten Challenge opponents, the Heels will play Minnesota and Wisconsin, who returns the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year in Lauren Carlini.

Featuring in home matchups at Carmichael Arena, Carolina has matches scheduled with 6-time national champion Stanford, who returns four All-Americans, as well as Michigan and Michigan State in the second leg of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

Even with the toughest of preseason opponents, the road does not get any easier in ACC play where the Tar Heels finished first at 17-1 last season. The conference had three teams make the 2014 NCAA Tournament and saw a third of its member schools post 20-win records.

“I like that the ACC schedule is returning to 20 conference matches, even though it is difficult for any team to sustain a high level from beginning to end across 20 matches. The conference schedule will really be a challenge, facing teams like Florida State and Miami at home and heading to Georgia Tech and Boston College on longer road trips. We also play our rival Duke twice and also NC State, Wake Forest, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh twice,” Coach Sagula says.

Carolina, however, should be equipped for the tough slate. The Heels are returning 13 veterans including All-American honorable mentions Paige Neuenfeldt and Victoria McPherson as well as welcoming in a loaded freshman class.

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