University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Duke
Tar Heels Drop Thriller To Blue Devils
October 7, 2007 | Volleyball
Oct. 7, 2007
Chapel Hill, N.C. - The fifth largest volleyball crowd in Carmichael Auditorium history witnessed the latest edition of the bitter rivalry between Duke and Carolina as the Tar Heels fell 3-2 in a truly epic battle. Over 1,800 people were in attendance for the match that dropped Carolina to 7-9 on the year and 3-4 in Atlantic Coast Conference play as it fell short of its upset bid against #13 Duke. Four different Tar Heels reached double-digits in kills led by Lauren Prussing who picked up 12 on the day. Carolina will hit the road next weekend (Oct. 12 & 14) when the Tar Heels will face Virginia Tech and Virginia.
Game one was the definition of a back-and-forth game as the lead changed hands on 13 different occasions and was even 18 times. The Tar Heels took advantage of 18 Blue Devil errors, while committing just eight of their own en route to the 31-29 game one victory. Lauren Prussing picked up one of her four game one kills to give Carolina an 11-10 lead in the early portions of the game.
The score remained close throughout the rest of the game as no team led by more than two points until Christine Vaughen and Prussing tallied back-to-back kills to give Carolina a 28-25 that looked like it would lead to a game one victory. The 13th-ranked Blue Devils would not go so easily as they scored the next three points to even the score and force Joe Sagula to call a timeout. A Duke kill gave the visitors a one-point lead and forced another timeout. The second timeout produced a much more focused Carolina team as they rattled off three consecutive points for the 31-29 win as Christine Vaughen picked up a kill and Heather Brooks blocked a pair of attacks with the help of Prussing and Stephanie Jansma for the victory.
After the game one win, Carmichael was rocking in anticipation for game two. Unfortunately, so were the Blue Devils. Duke jumped out to a 15-9 lead and never trailed as it hit .442 for the 30-23 win to pull the match even at one game apiece. Each team committed just four attack errors in the game but the Blue Devils tallied eight more kills than the Tar Heels. Prussing chipped in four more kills along with Brooks and Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland who added three kills.
The hot hitting for the Blue Devils carried over into game three as they hit an unheard of .629, committing just one error. The Tar Heels were still in the game early on despite the hot hitting as they trailed by just four (11-7) after one of Christine Vaughen's three third game kills. Duke would cruise to the 30-18 win to take a 2-1 advantage quieting the Carmichael crowd.
Carolina would give the Carmichael faithful something to cheer about in game four as it out hit Duke .238-.208 and never trailed 30-24. The Tar Heels led by as many as 14 points late in the contest at 24-10. What looked to be an easy victory was not the case as Duke battled back and scored 14 of the final 20 points to make it a little interesting. Whenever the Blue Devils seemed to get on a run Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland was there to make sure Duke would not get back in the game. Hanson-Tuntland scored points 27, 28 and 29 with monster kills that pulled the crowd back into the game and the match. Megan Owens would finish off the game with a kill and force a decisive game five.
Hanson-Tuntland's run-stopping capabilities were called upon early in the fifth game as Duke scored the opening two points before Hanson-Tuntland picked up another kill and chipped in another after a Duke kill to make the score 3-2. The Blue Devils then proceeded to rattle off six straight points to gain a 9-2 advantage, an edge that normally would have sealed the Tar Heels fate. Carolina did not give up, however, pulling within one outscoring Duke 8-1. Sue Haydel got things going with a service ace followed by a Duke error and a Stephanie Jansma kill forced a Duke timeout. Duke's Jourdan Norman committed back-to-back errors, the second coming on a solo block from Vaughen to make the score 10-9. Duke would pick up five of the next six points for the thrilling five-game win.
Ashley Board and Brianna Eskola led the defensive effort for the Tar Heels as Board recorded 20 digs and Eskola tallied a match-high 28 in the defeat. Jansma doled out 46 assists for the Tar Heels who fall to 7-9 on the year and 3-4 in ACC play. Hanson-Tuntland tallied 11 kills in the loss, while hitting a team-high with .348 on the afternoon. The loss was just Carolina's second in its last 10 matches against Duke in Carmichael Auditorium as 1,834 people showed up for the battle. Duke pulled within a half point of the Tar Heels in the Carlyle Cup standings as Carolina lead 1-0.5 after field hockey claimed a win earlier in the year.
Carolina will travel to the Commonwealth of Virginia next week, as it will take on Virginia Tech at 7 p.m. on Friday and Virginia at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
