#21 Volleyball Drops Heartbreaker To #4 Pitt In 5

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No. 21 Carolina Volleyball battled with No. 4 Pitt however in the end fell in 5 (18-25, 25-22, 23-25, 26-24, 17-15).

The UNC block was relentless the whole match because the Tar Heels completed with 22.5 blocks, obliterating the earlier match excessive of 16. An enormous a part of that was Lauren Schutter who shattered her career-best with 13 blocks on the day.

After setting her profession excessive on Friday with 28 assists, Sienna Cozza got here out and had 30 two days later to set a brand new profession document.

The match felt like a heavyweight bout between two prized fighters. Blow after the blow, the Tar Heels stored punching again. After dropping the primary set, and happening 6-3 within the first, they scratched and clawed their method again into it. After reducing it to 7-6, the 2 groups alternated factors till UNC tied it up at 18-18 to lastly break the backwards and forwards. Pitt took a 19-18 lead after which the run UNC was on the lookout for lastly got here. A Safi Hampton kill after which three straight aces from Jackie Taylor gave the Tar Heels a 22-19 lead. The groups would alternate till Safi Hampton ended the set to tie issues up at 1-1.

In the third, UNC was unable to carry on to an early lead and got here up simply brief to place its again in opposition to the wall within the fourth. Trailing 6-5, the Tar Heels went on a 4-0 run to take a 9-6 lead and power a Pitt timeout. The Panthers would rally and take a 16-14 lead, forcing a UNC timeout. UNC knotted issues again up at 19-19 however then Pitt went on a 4-1 run to take a 23-20 lead. That’s when two Chelsea Thorpe kills and two Pitt errors gave UNC a 24-23 lead. Pitt managed to tie issues up however then a Hampton and Schutter block and a Hampton kill gave the Tar Heels with fourth set to power a fifth.

In the fifth, Pitt got here out quick, taking an 8-3 lead into the swap. Pitt maintained a 10-5 lead and UNC referred to as a timeout. A 4-1 run lower the Pitt result in simply 11-10. Then going through match level, UNC rattled off the subsequent three factors to tie issues up at 14-14. They then tied it once more at 15-15. Pitt scored the subsequent two factors to take the set and the match.

This marks UNC’s fourth lack of the 12 months, two of which have been to high 10 groups who made the Final Four final season and three have been in 5 units.

Carolina now heads west for its first ACC journey to California to tackle No. 5 Stanford on Friday and California on Sunday.