Volleyball at North Carolina, NC State this Weekend
9/25/2008 8:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 25, 2008
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Fresh of its 3-1 victory in Tuesday's conference opener against Boston College, the University of Maryland volleyball team is making its first Atlantic Coast Conference road trip of the season this weekend. The Terrapins play at North Carolina at 7 p.m. Friday and at 1 p.m. Sunday at NC State.
The Terrapins have won three straight matches and are 5-8 on the season and 1-0 in the ACC heading into Friday's match against the Tar Heels.
Friday's match, which will be broadcast live online via ACC Select, should be a difficult ACC road opener for Maryland. The Tar Heels are 6-5 this season, but played a difficult out-of-conference schedule including the likes of Oregon, Illinois and Colorado State. The Heels are coming off one of the best victories in program history, as they defeated then-No. 8 Minnesota on the road last time out.
The series between Maryland and North Carolina has been close the last five years as the two teams have split the last 10 meetings, with the home team winning every match. The Terps have not won in Chapel Hill, N.C. since the 1997 season when they went 16-0 in conference play.
Maryland faces a revamped NC State program Sunday in Raleigh, N.C. The Wolfpack are 6-9 so far this season after dropping its first six matches to start the season. However, the six wins have already doubled last year's total of three.
NC State went winless in the ACC last year and 1-21 the year before. The Terps have defeated the Wolfpack 11 straight times.
Arlee Tamietti is NC State's go-to scorer as she leads the team with 156 kills, 67 more than the second-leading scorer. Aiwane Iboaya leads the Pack with a .251 hitting percentage and 44 blocks.
Junior middle blocker Katie Usher is Maryland's leading scorer this season, leading the team in kills (125) and hitting percentage (.265).
Senior right side Mary Beth Brown is approaching a major program milestone heading into this weekend's action. Brown is eight blocks shy of moving into third place on the school's all-time list. Brown currently has 410 career blocks.
-TERPS-
