University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Maryland
Tar Heels Roll To Third Straight Sweep
November 4, 2007 | Volleyball
Nov. 4, 2007
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The North Carolina volleyball team delivered its third straight sweep Sunday as the Tar Heels took down Maryland 30-23, 30-18, 30-25 to improve to 12-13 overall and 8-8 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. A trio of Tar Heels led the way as Lauren Prussing and Megan Owens recorded a team-high 15 kills apiece and sophomore Christine Vaughen continued her solid play with 13 kills on a team-high .591 hitting percentage. Carolina will close out the 2007 home schedule on Friday (Nov. 9) and Saturday (Nov. 10) against Virginia and Virginia Tech with both matches starting at 6 p.m.
The Tar Heels started out slow Sunday as Maryland controlled the tempo in the first half of the match taking a 15-12 advantage. Head coach Joe Sagula called a timeout to refocus his squad and the Tar Heels responded with a flurry of kills to get back into the game and tie it up at 19-19. Heather Brooks and Christine Vaughen tallied two kills apiece in the 7-4 run that got the momentum to the Tar Heels' side. Maryland was forced to call a timeout following the quick comeback from Carolina which did not seem to slow down the Tar Heels at all as Lauren Prussing delivered three kills with Vaughen tallying another as the duo pushed Carolina to a 30-23 opening game victory.
Carolina hit .362 in the opening frame and were led by Vaughen and Prussing who tallied eight and seven kills, respectively. Vaughen continued her hot play by hitting .727 in the game. Setter Stephanie Jansma doled out 18 assists in the game as Carolina tallied 23 kills.
The teams traded points in the opening of game two before Lauren Prussing and Ashley Board took over and gave the Tar Heels a five-point lead that it would not lose. Board stepped to the service line with the score knotted at nine and delivered an ace before Prussing drilled three consecutive kills. Board would force a Maryland timeout with her second ace of the game to cap off the 5-0 run for Carolina. Prussing would team with Megan Owens later in the game for Carolina's second 5-0 run of the game taking advantage of a pair of Terp errors and using two kills from Prussing and a service ace from Owens.
Carolina would cruise to the 30-18 win as it hit a match-high .436 in the win with Prussing's six kills leading the way. Brianna Eskola led the defensive attack with 11 digs from her libero position and the Tar Heels recorded two blocks with Brooks tallying a solo and two assists.
Game three was more of the same for the Tar Heels as they closed out the match with a 30-25 win. Carolina never trailed in the third and final game as it hit .278 in the win. Owens led the team with a game-high six kills and led the team with those six points. Carolina's front line dominated the third game, much it did the first two, with its second game scoring 20 or more kills tallying 21 in the third.
The middles played well for Sagula as Vaughen tallied 13 kills with a .591 hitting percentage with zero errors in the match. Brooks tallied five blocks in the victory, while killing eight balls and committing just one error on the day for a .412 percentage. The outside hitters were not far behind as Owens and Prussing led the squad with 15 kills apiece and Owens was one of four players with a .400 or better hitting percentage at .433. Eskola finished the day with 27 digs. Jansma joined Owens in the double-double category as she dished out 44 assists to go with her 12 digs.
Carolina will return to action on Friday, Nov. 9 when it hosts Virginia in a match set to begin at 6 p.m.
