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Here's a big ACC matchup, involving two of the top teams in the league. Florida State enter at 8-2 in league, North Carolina at 9-1. Both are looking up at Duke in the ACC standings, as the Blue Devils also sit at 9-1 (beating UNC on the basis of their head-to-head result). A win tonight goes a long way for either team in the conference standings, particularly as there is no return match. With the ACC expanding this season, teams don't play a full double round-robin. There will be no UNC/FSU match in Chapel Hill. So along with the glory of the night and the match up in the standings, tonight's winners also get this tiebreaker. It's pretty much a formality anyway — neither of these teams will be biting their nails on Selection Sunday, but I'm not sure either are in line to host, either.
I mentioned over on twitter that it had been too long since I'd livetweeted a match, well, that goes double for reporting here. Glad to get back to it.
The Seminoles turned nothing into something quite nicely on the first rally of the match, as their service reception made it look like no play was forthcoming, but Olivera Medic successfully put up the block on the right side to get them on the board first anyway. At 3-2 on Carolina's serve, they had an opportunity with the Seminole serve reception again breaking down a little, but instead of gobbling it up they overpassed themselves into the waiting arms of the FSU middle blocker. It was a very even exchange of points in the early going. While not strictly sideout after sideout, there were ties at the first 4 numerical scores.
Florida State took the first 'true' lead when a net fault was whistled against the Tar Heels after a very long 5-4 rally. The Tar Heels immediately got the point right back, with Lauren Adkins 'tooling the block' (does that actually mean anything?) from the left side for the kill. A quick set to the middle for Sarah Burrington got it to 8-5 Seminoles, and Medic's second block of the set made it a 4-point lead for the home team. A double block for Medic and Burrington, and Florida State had North Carolina doubled up. After a Tar Heel sideout, an awkward play on 10-6 led to yet another block for the Seminoles. The Heels kept feeding the right side, but they had real trouble breaking through. On 11-6, they went to Leigh Andrew on the left, who was able to find the floor through Elise Walch, but the Seminoles added another service point not long after to go up six. A falconesque serve for Paige Neuenfeldt landed just in on the back line for an ace. The Seminoles then sided out for 15-10, and we reached the media timeout.
The first rally after the timeout had a play you almost never see — a tip shot from the back row. It worked for Andrew, and the Heels sided out. A hitting miscue from the Seminoles made it 15-12, and then an overpass on the next serve landed directly in the waiting hands of Victoria McPherson for a thunderous kill. That prompted Chris Poole to call time.
The Seminoles got the point back on a setting miscue from the Carolina side. It's not that Abby Curry was called for a lift or a double, she actually set the ball over the net. I really don't think she intended to, because Nicole Walch had no trouble at all obliterating the ball on the other side of the net. On 16-14, the Tar Heels got back within a point as Medic hit straight into the net. Izzy Carmona did the same on the next rally, and it was back to level at 16-all. Hailey Luke appeared to get away with a sloppy set on 16-all, but nothing was called, and Florida State sided out to remain in the lead. On 17-all, another great sinking serve, this time from Ece Taner, landed in to give North Carolina their first lead of the match. The Seminoles got the point back on a back-row fault against Jordyn Schnabl (both teams run the double-sub NCAA version of the 6-2, so there's no setter dumps nor playing the ball over the net at all).
We reached 20-all, and North Carolina took the lead again when this time it was Florida State whose setter overreached. Ties occurred at 21 and 22, at which point Tar Heels coach Joe Sagula called time. Andrew made a terrific shot on the first rally after the timeout, looking like she was winding up to deliver an absolute heater, but instead just softly tapping the ball home. But the Seminoles reached set point first, on 24-23, with a double block for Carmona and Ashley Neff.
The Tar Heels almost gave set point right away as Taner's pass wasn't great. But by simply hitting the ball in, they got the kill and staved off set point. The Heels played some magnificent defence on 24-all, but as is usually the case it didn't turn into a point. Andrew succeeded again on the sneaky tip on 25-24 to stave off set point again. Then the Heels made it to set point on 26-25 with a kill from the right side, and Florida State called their last timeout. The next rally was exciting, as both teams had bites at the apple, but in the end Neuenfeldt found the floor from the middle to give us a 27-25 first set final in favour of the Tar Heels.
Neuenfeldt got the Heels on the scoreboard to begin set 2 as well. Then the Seminole left side hit straight into the net, and the Florida State home crowd suddenly fell a bit quiet. Bjelica found the floor in right-back to make it 3-0, and Florida State's next hit found the floor on the other side but hit the antenna first. Point Heels. The run ended at 4, as Elise Walch sided the 'Noles out on 4-1, and then another big block for Florida State made it 4-2. From 5-3, the Seminoles equalised with back-to-back aces, the second of which just fell right in the campfire. A double block for Neff and Elise Walch gave Florida State their first lead of the set at 6-5. But it was short-lived, as after the Tar Heel sideout some tricky serves from Taner lead to points for their side. The first just wasn't passed well, leading to an easy dig for the Heels and a subsequent attack, and the second was an ace.
Florida State equalised, and then took the lead back at 9-8 when the up referee overruled the flagger by calling a cross-court shot from the Tar Heel left side out of bounds. They got back to a 2-point lead with a weird-looking attack from the pipe by Carmona, as she was kinda falling backwards as she hit it, but it worked. A kill through the block on the left side, and Florida State edged out to a 3-point lead at 12-9. The Heels sided out for 12-10, won a nice long rally to draw within ap oint, and then equalised themselves on 12-all with another service ace from Taner. The Seminoles then took the lead back themselves on 14-12, winning a couple of long rallies with right-side blocks. Schnabl got away with a dodgy set again, feeding Neuenfeldt for the middle attack, but it worked. Then on 14-13, Andrew tied the score yet again with a kill from the left side. With one more rally to go to the media timeout, Florida State managed to take the smallest of leads on a right-side kill by Carmona.
The Seminoles took the next lead, on 17-15, with a left-side tip shot finding the floor. Neuenfeldt and Bjelica tossed up the double block to side the Tar Heels out on 17-16. Then the teams swapped points by drilling the net on serve. On 18-17, it looked like the Seminoles had kept the ball alive on their side amid a long rally, but the up referee called 4 hits (meaning the ball had hit the net rather than the block). FSU called time there. They got an easy first-ball sideout, a rarity in this match, with Nicole Walch on the first play after the timeout. The Tar Heel offence looked a little awkward on 19-18, and finally broke down with the ball falling on their side. That prompted Carolina to call time.
Bit of a trap set on the first rally after the timeout, as Andrew hit directly into the double block to make it 21-18. McPherson made an impressively vertical hit on the next rally, but UNC still trailed in the late-going of the set. Another big block for the Seminoles, by Carmona and Neff, sided them out and kept them up three as the end of proceedings neared. Neuenfeldt's kill to make it 23-21 was her 11th of the night, which was already a season-high. The Tar Heels had a golden opportunity to draw a point closer on 23-21, getting a free ball, but a huge solo block up the middle for Burrington got the Seminoles to set point. A rare unforced hitting error from the Tar Heel side sent the teams to the locker room level at a set apiece.
The Seminoles' blocking dominance was clear, as through two sets they had already racked up 12 total team blocks, with three players each having 5 or more individually. (Remember, that makes perfect sense — team blocks are the sum of individual blocks divided by two) It certainly seemed from watching that it was the front line that turned the page for the Seminoles when they needed it.
UNC went to their bench to begin set 3, bringing Hayley McCorkle on to beef up the block (Taylor Treacy also saw time). It was a stretch of evenly exchanged points to begin the set, with ties at the first 4 numerical scores. On 5-4, Nicole Walch's serve just trickled over the net for an ace, giving them the first 2-point lead. Her next serve was a more 'legitimate' ace, finding the back-corner of the court. FSU setter Luke then deftly played the ball over on 2, getting the kill despite being back-row (not that easy to do). That made it 8-4 FSU, and unlike the first two sets, an early timeout came here.
The Seminoles kept rolling, with a double block making it 9-4 and another let-serve ace for Walch made it 10-4. She then scored on her own serve, with a vicious kill from the pipe to make it 11-4. Another double block made it 12-4, and just like that, UNC expended their last timeout. Carolina at last got a couple points coming out of their timeout, but yet another big block led by Carmona kept the ball rolling. An unforced hitting error from the Tar Heel side made it 15-6, and it looked like they needed to start thinking about a 4th set. With their timeouts gone, the Heels resorted to substitutions to slow the pace. The lead for FSU reached ten at 16-6 before Carolina finally sided out again. Sarah Wickstrom rotated back to serve on 17-7, and got the Tar Heels to overpass the ball into the waiting hands of Sarah Burrington for an easy kill. Still another double block made it 19-7, an unconscionably large lead considering how close the first two sets were.
The Tar Heels managed to crack double digits, with a middle kill from McPherson that made it 22-10. A relatively rare reception error from Florida State, for this set anyway, gave an ace to Neuenfeldt. An unforced hitting error made it 22-12, and Chris Poole called time. The Heels did an admirable job of clawing their way back into it, closing to within 7 on 23-16, but the damage was done. It looked like Seminole libero Katie Mosher had a pancake dig on the 24-16 rally, but the ball was whistled dead. After an instantaneous officals' conference, replay was the call (and TV replays showed that Mosher did indeed get the dig). Before that replay even ended, Florida State claimed set point for a 25-16 final.
The Heels kept the little roll they'd been on late in set 3 going to begin set 4, claiming the first three points. Not terribly surprisingly, the Seminoles ran three back off in response. The Tar Heels, also unsurprisingly, fed their hottest hand, McPherson up the middle. Another middle kill for her and a double block on the right side got UNC up 6-3. Schnabl got whistled for a back-row fault on 6-4, and made the "replay" signal to the up referee, walking away smiling frustratedly and shaking her head. Not sure why, it looked like a pretty easy call. On 7-5, Neff made a bizarre mistake, hitting the ball with one hand and then the other in midair. Yeah, you're not allowed to do that.
After the Seminole sideout on 8-6, another block for Carmona (how many times have I said that?) made it a one-point set again. The Heels edged back to three as the Seminoles again had difficulties passing Taner on serve, leading to a weak hit and a double block on the Tar Heel side. Taner's next serve wasn't legally returned, as Luke went to Neff on the right side but she apparently lost her footing or something, as it was just an airball. Taner's next serve drilled the net, and that rotated her counterpart on the FSU side, Mosher, to serve. Both sides flubbed a little on that 12-9 rally, but the Tar Heels eventually got the kill from the left side to make it 13-9. A kill for Andrew, from the left side and off a tricky jump/back-set from Taner, got UNC to a five-point advantage. The rally on 14-10 was long, ending with Leah Mikesky trying for a change-up roll shot, but she took too much off it as it failed to clear the net. That brought us to the media timeout at 15-10.
The Seminoles took control coming out of the timeout, with a 4-1 run to bring them within two points. More and more, it was the blocking getting it done. North Carolina called time with their lead whittled to 16-14. They got the point you always need to get, the first after your timeout, making it 17-14. An unforced hitting error for the FSU right side put the Heels back ahead by four. Then on 18-14, the ball pinballed quite a bit, hitting at least one player in the head. The point ended with Elise Walch hitting into Bjelica's solo block on the right side, and the margin was again five. The Seminoles took their first charged timeout there.
Florida State got the first two after their timeout, making Carolina have to work for it a little to reach 20 first. The lead got back to five again on 21-16, as a block touch for the Heels (McPherson, I believe) sent the ball back to the FSU side. For a moment, the Seminoles kept it alive, but the return just went straight into the net. At 21-16, Chris Poole called his last timeout of the set.
But the Heels got the first point after the timeout, getting the block up against Neff. 22-16 was a long rally, ending with a cross-court kill for Bjelica to put the Tar Heels on the cusp of set point. They reached it at 24-17, perfectly content to sideout to set victory. A weird miscommunication on offence by the Seminoles ended the set right then and there, and off to the race to 15 we went.
At 2-1 in the 5th, the Seminoles played some incredible defence to keep the ball alive, and this time they converted the defence into offence, getting the big stuff block to take the first true lead of the decider. They claimed the next point as well to go up 4-1, potentially a big lead in such a short set. At 5-2, Medic rotated to serve and served up a real knuckleball, that just fell in between Taner and Andrew in the back row. That made it 6-2. McPherson sided the Heels out on 6-3, leading to a long rally on that score. It ended with a long hit from the Carolina right side to keep the Seminoles ahead by four. On 7-3, both teams made diving saves, but then the play had a very weird ending. Florida State 'over-dug' but the ball just fell in harmlessly anyway. Second kind of odd mental miscue from the Tar Heels, and the Seminoles led by five at the side change.
The first point after the side change was only partially shown by the webcast cameras, but they did catch the ending — a flat-footed setter dump from FSU's Luke to make it 9-3. Joe Sagula called time there — it's a wonder he didn't do it sooner.
Carolina made a few substitutions coming back from the timeout, and Sagula kept the down referee's attention for a moment asking if they were in the proper rotation. Surely anything to keep the pace slowed. It did nothing to disrupt Florida State, as the first-ball hit from the Tar Heel right side got sent right back to them, for the Seminoles' 27th block of the night. A hit long but off the touch for Andrew got UNC back to within five on 10-5, and FSU wasted no time in slowing the game down. Hey, you can't take 'em with you, so no reason for Coach Poole not to call timeout there.
The Seminoles got their first-ball sideout after the timeout with Carmona on the right side. Wickstrom rotated in to set and serve, and her let-serve almost fell in for another tricky little ace. But no matter — the resultant Tar Heel return had nothing behind it, and Florida State inched closer to victory at 12-5. UNC called their last timeout there.
The teams traded sideouts after the timeout, but of course that favoured Florida State. A kill for Nicole Walch off the overpass made it match point FSU on 14-7, and they converted it on reception.
#20 Florida State d. #12 North Carolina (25-27, 25-21, 25-16, 17-25, 15-8)
I'm not convinced the better team won. The better team tonight certainly won, but you're not gonna see blocking from Florida State like that again quite possibly ever. 28 total team blocks, holy moley. It's a new school record, and don't get me wrong — it's a great accomplishment for the team. I'm not trying to say it's not. But it's also kind of a perfect storm that propelled them to victory. Play this match ten times, I think the Heels win six, maybe seven. I know who I still think will go further in the NCAA tournament, and I certainly think Tar Heels would have won if tonight had been on their home court. It's too bad that chance won't come.
I guess I should have used Burrington's name more than I did (the commentators were bad at mentioning names, and I'm not super familiar with Florida State anyway), because she put up a dazzling double-double, 13 kills and 14 blocks. Neff and Carmona also reached double digits in blocks, 12 and 10 respectively. Nicole Walch led all scorers with 20 kills.
The Heels spread the ball around, as they always do. Andrew led with 15 kills, and Neuenfeldt and Bjelica were right at her heels with 14 apiece. Bjelica took 50 swings tonight, by far the most on either team (the next highest total was Walch at 35). A 14/9/50 hitting line is only a .100 efficiency, and blocking for the 'Noles meant efficiency wasn't so great for the Heels. They hit a very good .349 in set 1, an acceptable .219 in set 4, but under .100 in 2 and 5 and actually in negative figures in 3. That's how ferocious the Florida State block was. Their attacking was a lot more consistent, and 7 for an errorless 15 in set 5 will get it done every time.
The Tar Heels continue their Florida road trip on Sunday at Miami. Next up for the Seminoles, they host NC State (also on Sunday).
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