No. 23 Volleyball Returns Home To Open Four-Match Homestand - University of North Carolina Athletics

Friday, October 23

Chapel Hill, N.C.

7:00 PM

North Carolina

California

Tickets From $10 - $15

Lauren Schutter
University of North Carolina Volleyball v Georgia Tech
Carmichael Arena
Chapel Hill, NC
Sunday, October 4, 2026

Photo by: DALTON WAINSCOTT

October 21, 2026 | Volleyball

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No. 23 Carolina volleyball returns home to kick off a four match homestand. It's alumni weekend and serve for a cause weekend. Each student-athlete will be representing a cause that is near and dear to their hearts.

No. 23 Carolina vs. Cal
Oct. 23 | 7 p.m.
LIVE STATS | WATCH

No. 23 Carolina vs. #15 Stanford
Oct. 25 | 8:30 p.m.
LIVE STATS | WATCH

Full lists of causes being represented by student-athletes:
Addison West - Breast Cancer
Bridget Malone - Breast Cancer
Carly Markham - Girls in sports
Chelsea Thorpe - Black Women in Sports
Emily Bobbitt - Breast Cancer
Erin Curtis - Girls in Sports
Hailey Pearce - Girls in Sports
Jackie Taylor - Black Women in Sports
Julia Bohlinger - Backpacks for Kids
Lauren Schutter - My Mom
Laynie Smith - Black Women in Sports & Representation
Lindley Miller - Girls in Sports
Mackenzie Boyer - Breast Cancer
Meghan Clifford - Girls in Sports
Sadie Swift - Parkinson's Disease
Safi Hampton - Black Women in Sports
Sienna Cozza - Cancer awareness & Research
Zoe Behrendt - Type 1 Diabetes

NEWS & NOTES

A WIN WOULD...
- Be better than a loss
- Be Carolina's third straight win over Cal
- Mark the first win over Stanford since a 3-0 sweep on Sept. 10, 2015 when the Cardinal were ranked No. 3

THE SAFI AND JACKIE SHOW
- Through 16 matches Safi Hampton leads the Tar Heels with 187 kills and 3.34 points per set
- Hampton notched her 1000th career kill against No. 3 Louisville on Oct. 18 becoming one of 18 Tar Heels to join the 1000 kill club
- Hampton has tied her career-high with 22 kills in two different matches this year, against Wake Forest she had 22 kills while hitting .373 and then a week later against Georgia Tech she had 22 kills while hitting .313 to go with three aces
- Jackie Taylor leads in both blocks and service aces with 89 and 15 respectively
- She currently has 28 more blocks than anyone else on the team
- Taylor ranks 2nd in the ACC in blocks per set and 4th in total blocks
- Eight matches into her third season, Taylor entered the top 10 in program history in block assists
- The Miami native entered the top 10 in program history for total career blocks on 10/11 at Virginia Tech. She currently sits 352 blocks in just 282 sets and 76 matches played
- Her 1.30 career blocks per set would be the best in program history

ZOE'S DISHIN'
- UNC setter Zoe Behrendt became one of 11 Tar Heels to reach the 2000 assist mark on Oct. 4 against Georgia Tech
- Her 5.49 assists per set over her career have her just on the outside of the program top 10
- The senior is a leader in the locker room as well, serving as one of the captains

ROAD SHUTDOWN
- This past weekend against Virginia Tech and Virginia, the Tar Heels didn't allow either team to break 20 points in a set
- Virginia Tech scored a weekend-high 18 points in set two of the Carolina sweep
- UNC held Virginia Tech to a .009 hitting percentage and Virginia to a .040 hitting
Percentage

AFTER ALL... IT IS THE TAR HEEL STATE
- Since Mike Schall took over in the 2024 season the Tar Heels are 16-4 against in-state opponents and winners of the last 11 matches
- He holds a 4-0 record against Duke, 3-0 against Wake Forest, 2-1 against NC State, and 1-0 records against App State, ECU, Davidson, UNCW, and Western Carolina
- All-time, UNC is 426-142 against in-state opponents, with winning record against all but two schools (Barton and St. Andrews, last played both in 1974)

MATCH OF THE YEAR
- After going down 2-0 to Georgia Tech, UNC trailed 24-20 in the third
- Georgia Tech had what it thought was the match clinching block, but after Head Coach Mike Schall successfully challenged a net fault the Tar Heels had new life
- The Tar Heels fought off six match points to take the third set
- Carolina led wire-to-wire in the fourth set to force a fifth
- In the fifth the last tie was at 2-2 and then Carolina pulled away to complete the reverse sweep
- Some fans on social media have dubbed the match saving third set challenge the "Schallenge"

DRESS LIKE MIKE DAY
- Sunday's match against Georgia Tech was 'Dress Like Mike Day'
- With the arena full of bald caps to match Mike, UNC pulled off a magical reverse sweep sparked by a clutch challenge in the third set to keep the Tar Heels alive

BIG RED. BIG IMPACT.
- Bridget Malone had the match of her career against Colorado State on Sept. 4
- She had a career-high 23 kills and she tacked on four blocks to carry the Tar Heels to a five set win

LUCKY NUMBER... 19?
- Carolina was ranked No. 19 for five consecutive AVCA polls between Nov. 24, 2025-Aug. 31
- Before this stretch the Tar Heels had only been ranked No. 19 twice in the history of the AVCA Top 25 (Nov. 4, 2013, Aug. 10, 2016)
- Five straight polls at the same ranking is the longest stretch since Carolina was ranked No. 7 in five consecutive polls between Nov. 17, 2014-Aug. 12, 2015

OPENING WEEKEND MASTERCLASS
- Carolina swept opening weekend while being extremely efficient on offense and lockdown on defense
- The Tar Heels hit an insane .470 against UNCW on Sunday which is the most efficient offensive performance since Nov. 11, 2016
- UNC also shut down the UNCW offense, holding them to a -.010 hitting percentage, the lowest since Boston College hit -.010 on Oct. 21, 2016
- Through two matches the UNC defense is holding opponents to a stellar .055 hitting percentage which is second best in the nation early on

RETURNING FIREPOWER
- Carolina didn't lose anyone to the transfer portal for the second consecutive year and it's allowing a lot of production to return
- Out of the 1536 kills last season, 1535 (99.9%) of those are back on the 2026 roster, 100% of the 342 blocks are back, 90.2% of aces are returning, and 69.7% of digs
- Safi Hampton and Chelsea Thorpe were both named to the Preseason All-ACC Team ahead of the 2026 season

BEHIND THE SCHEDULE
- The Tar Heels will square off with eight different teams who made the NCAA Tournament last season
- They will face National Runner-Up Kentucky, National Semi-Finalist Pitt, and 2025 overall No. 1 seed Nebraska all on the road this season.
- UNC will also travel to SMU, host Stanford and Georgia Tech, and play Louisville and Miami both home and away.
- Carolina will square off against six teams in the AVCA Preseason Top-11 over the course of seven matches throughout the season, five on the road and two at home

O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
- The 2026 leadership team consists of Zoe Behrendt, Chelsea Thrope, and Sadie Swift

THE CLUB CONNECTION
- Laynie Smith and Emily Bobbitt will have a connection before they ever play in Carolina blue together
- The two played together at Triangle Volleyball Club
- Triangle is also where Erin Curtis, Lindley Miller, and Carly Markham played club prior to college
- Erin Curtis' father, Jason, co-founded the club
- Head coach Mike Schall served as an associate director at Triangle before arriving in Chapel Hill

YEAR FOUR OF THE SCHALL ERA
- Entering year four, Coach Schall looks to build off the momentum of the first three seasons
- Carolina is ranked in the preseason AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll for the first time since 2017 and was picked fifth in the ACC Preseason Coaches Poll
- In year one he went 13-14 and turned that around with a 23-8 record in 2024 with the first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2021, followed by a 22-9 campaign in 2025 with another first round victory in the NCAA Tournament
- UNC is now chasing three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since it went to seven in a row between 2010-16

ATHLETIC PEDIGREE
- Jackie Taylor's father, Sean, played football for the University of Miami from 2001-2003 and was a member of the 2001 BCS National Championship team. He was the No. 5 pick in the 2004 NFL Draft to the Washington Redskins where he was a two-time Pro-Bowl Selection (2006, 2007)
-Her mom, Jackie García, was a midfielder on the women's soccer team at the University of Miami
- Erin Curtis', father Jason was a captain on the Santa Clara men's volleyball team, sister Emily was a setter at Villanova and sister Maggie was a defensive specialist at Santa Clara
- Julia Bohlinger: Father Rob played football at the University of Wyoming (1993-98) and professionally in the NFL for the Carolina Panthers as a left tackle
- Carson Overbeck's mom, Carla, was a three-time All-America and four-time NCAA Champion on the UNC soccer team from 1986-89. She captained the 1995 U.S. World Cup squad that advanced to the semifinals and also served as captain of the 1996 U.S. Women's Soccer Olympic Team that won the gold medal. She is currently an assistant coach for the Duke women's soccer team