College of Charleston 3, North Carolina 1
Tiffany Blum and Amanda Timmers combined for 35 kills to lead the College of Charleston volleyball team to the 3-1 (30-28, 23-30, 30-16, 31-29) win over the North Carolina Tar Heels in the first round of the NCAA Tournament held at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C.
WIth the win, the Cougars improve to 32-1 overall and advance to play Purdue at 6:00 PM Saturday at the Dean Smith Center. The Boilermakers defeated the Virginia Commonwealth Rams, 3-0, to earn a spot in the regional finals. North Carolina ends its season at 23-10.
With the win the Cougars become the first volleyball team in school and Southern Conference history to earn a NCAA tournament victory.
North Carolina opened game one with a spirited 6-0 run, but CofC quickly responded with five straight to close the gap to one. The Tar Heels would push the lead back to five at 15-10 before the Cougars would tighten things up for good. The visitors finally tie the score at 22-all in the midst of a 5-1 run that saw them take a 25-23 lead and force a UNC timeout. A pair of Charleston errors and a Beaver kill would give UNC a 27-26 edge, but the Tar Heels could not capitalize. CofC reclaimed the lead at 29-28, and Tiffany Blum put down her eighth kill of the game to give the Cougars a 30-28 win.
Game two was tight early before a 6-0 North Carolina run gave the Tar Heels a comfortable working margin. The Cougars would get as close at three at 13-10 but never threatened again. The Tar Heels led by as many as 10 at 24-14 en route to a 30-23 win. UNC hit .321 for the frame, led by a game-high nine kills from senior outside hitter Camilla Ihenetu. Beaver added eight kills on just 11 swings.
The Cougars opened game three with a 9-2 run cruised to a 30-16 win. After a 3-0 run cut the deficit to four, North Carolina was able to string together consecutive points only three times the rest of the way. Charleston out-hit UNC .289-.037, had 5.5 blocks to none for North Carolina and committed just one error.
Game four was a tight, back-and-forth affair and was not decided until the end of a marathon match point. Charleston made the first move with a 5-0 run at 17-15 to take a 20-17 lead. North Carolina fought back to a tie on a Cougar hitting error that made it 27-all. After a pair of sideouts, CofC got its first shot a match point, but senior outside hitter and ACC Player of the Year Dani Nyenhuis evened the score at 29-all. Another Charleston sideout followed, and the Tar Heels were unable to fight off a second match point. Rebecca Wieters finally ended a point that was extended numerous times by incredible plays on both sides of the net to give the Cougars their 24th-straight victory and first-ever NCAA Tournament win.
TImmers led the Cougars with 18 kills, with Blum following with 17. Wieters tallied double-digit kills for the team as well, posting 13 in the win. Marie Dobrenz paced the team defensively with 47 digs. Beaver led the Tar Heels with 22 kills. The Cougars led the Tar Heels in hitting percentage, .236 to .198.