Sept. 17, 2002

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Chapel Hill, N.C.-The No. 18 North Carolina volleyball team matched the best-ever start in program history tonight with a 3-0 victory over Davidson College. The Tar Heels 9-1 record matches the best start to a season since the 1981 team also started 9-1.

In the first game, Carolina hit a season-high .643 led by sophomore Molly Pyles, who was a perfect 4-4. Senior setter Eve Rackham, in her only game of the night picked up 16 assists. Laura Greene and Aletha Green each also had four kills in the game to send Carolina to a 30-15 victory.

The second game was closer with an adjusted Tar Heel lineup, with freshman McKenzie Byrd taking over the setting duties. The match was tied 12-12 before Carolina mounted a 16-5 run, finally winning 30-20 on a kill by Camilla Ihenetu. Byrd finished the game with 12 assists, while Greene led the team with six kills, five digs and a .625 hitting percentage.

The final game was neck-and-neck as the Tar Heels adjusted their line-up once again. With out any of the team's four seniors on the floor, Carolina fell behind 20-24 in a back and forth match. Despite four kills each in the game by Davidson's Roberta Quis and Latisha Chapman, North Carolina eventually evened the score at 27-27 on an Ihenetu kill. UNC would go up 28-27 on a Pyles kill, but Davidson tied the score when a Dani Nyenhuis serve went long. Carolina responded, with two consecutive kills by Pyles to clinch the match, the second coming on a rare set by Nyenhuis.

Byrd set a career high for assists with 28 in the match, while Greene picked up her eighth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 10 digs. Sophomore Katie Wright matched a career high with five block assists in the match.

Davidson (7-5) was led by Quis, who had 12 kills, and Nicole Tonelli, who recorded 34 assists.

Carolina is next in action this Friday and Saturday as the team hosts Georgetown and Rutgers. Each game begins at 7 p.m.