Nov. 22, 2002

Box Score

ATLANTA-The Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year Laura Greene tied an ACC Tournament match record and set new personal and school marks with 36 digs to lead top-seeded North Carolina over No. 8 seeded Virginia 3-1 in O'Keefe Gymnasium.

The Tar Heels (29-2, 15-1), the 12th ranked team in the country, took the match from the Cavaliers 30-28, 27-30, 30-24, 30-23 at the 2002 ACC Volleyball Championship Friday in O'Keefe Gymnasium.

"I am just happy that we are able to advance to the next match of this championship. Virginia played a great match and really challenged us today. We had to play at our best to get the win," said North Carolina Head Coach Joe Sagula.

Greene, a senior co-captain, also led the team with a match-high 22 kills. Two other Tar Heels, senior outside hitter Malaika Underwood and sophomore outside hitter Molly Pyles recorded double-doubles in the match, and senior setter Eve Rackham had 57 assists.

Defense set the pace in the first game, with neither team hitting higher than .127 and both teams recording more than 30 digs. Greene recorded 10 digs in the game, and the last of her five kills sealed the game 30-28 for Carolina. The Tar Heels jumped out to an 8-3 on four kills by senior middle hitter Holly Strauss, but Virginia would battle back to a 26-26 tie. After the Cavaliers took a one-point lead, Greene evened the score and junior middle hitter Aletha Green recorded a kill to put Carolina up for good.

The second game was a back and forth battle that was tied 17 times before Virginia prevailed 30-27. Five kills and a .571 hitting percentage for Virginia's Shannon Boyle sealed the Tar Heels fate to even the match 1-1.

The Tar Heel defense set the tone in the third game, holding Virginia to a .086 hitting percentage to win 30-24. The Tar Heels fell behind early 5-6, but a 4-0 run that included kills by Pyles and Underwood and an ace by Greene would but Carolina ahead for good in the game to take a 2-1 lead.

Greene again had 10 digs in a game, as Carolina held Virginia to hit less than .090 for the second time. On the offensive side, Greene and Pyles combined for 12 kills and a .333 hitting percentage to secure the Tar Heels spot in the next round with a 20-23 win.

North Carolina advances to play No. 4 seeded Florida State Saturday afternoon at 1:30. Friday afternoon the Seminoles topped No. 5 seeded Clemson 3-2 (29-31, 30-23, 30-28, 30-32, 17-15). Florida State (20-11) is the only ACC team to beat the Tar Heels in the regular season this year.