Nov. 26, 2005

Final Stats

CHAPEL HILL, NC - The University of Maryland women's volleyball team fell today to the University of North Carolina 3-0 in Carmichael Auditorium before 754 to close out the ACC season. North Carolina (23-9, 18-4) and Maryland (27-4, 18-4) shared the Atlantic Coast Conference volleyball title with the same league record.

Game scores were 26-30, 19-30 and 18-30.

In the absence of an ACC Championship tournament, the team that earns the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament is determined by the matches won in the regular season. In the event of a tie, total games won between the two teams determines the champion. Maryland won the first match of the season against UNC, 3-1, but was swept today.

Rachel Wagener led the team with 12 kills and four blocks, followed by Smith with nine kills and Schmelzle with seven. Maryland hit .142 on the match and had eight blocks for the day, as the Tar Heels had a .263 hitting percentage and were led by Dani Nyenhuis with the match-high of 20 kills.

"North Carolina's defensive performance and strong serving proved to be too much for us today. They played pretty flawlessly," said coach Janice Kruger. "We need to regroup. We still have a goal - the next step of the NCAA Tournament."

The opening game was a fierce contest where both teams went point for point. Stephanie Smith brought the game to a tie at five on a kill from a set by Teryn Papp. Maryland fought hard and went up 16-15 on a kill by Beth Gillming. The game came to a tie again at 17 on a kill from Maggie Schmelzle down the line after a set from freshman Tedi Doucet. The teams had 15 tie scores in the first game. North Carolina went on a three-point run and was up 17-20. Maryland tied the score again at 25-25 on some key blocks by Mary Beth Brown and Smith, but the Tar Heels pushed ahead on a Maryland error and a block. The Terps gained another point, but North Carolina prevailed for a final 26-30 score.

North Carolina came out to a quick 2-7 start in the second game and Maryland called a timeout. Beth Gillming nailed a kill followed by a Tar Heel error to close in at 4-8. Camilla Ihenetu had a kill and North Carolina increased the margin to ten points at 7-17. Wagener had a kill to bring the game within nine points at 11-20. The Tar Heels kept the margin through the second half of the game and had game point at 19-28 when they had an attack that went long. Two kills by Lauren Prussing and Ihenetu closed out the game at 19-30. North Carolina kept the Terps to .142 hitting percentage in the second game as they hit .195.

In the third game, the Tar Heels came out to a 2-7 lead when Maryland had a block that went out. After a timeout, the Terps tried to regain momentum and were aggressive on defense. The Tar Heels increased their lead to 9-17 when Jade Brown had kill. Maryland stayed in the game and Wagener had a kill for a 16-25 score, and Smith had a kill for a 18-29 score, but the Tar Heels proved too much with a final kill by Amy Beaver that caught the back line for a 18-30 final score.

The NCAA Tournament selection show taking place on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN News will announce the field for the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament.

For more information on the Terrapins' women's volleyball team, please visit www.umterps.com.