Volleyball Bounces Back to Defeat North Carolina 3-1
9/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Volleyball Bounces Back to Defeat North Carolina 3-1
9/10/2004
BOULDER, Colo. ? The Pittsburgh volleyball team put an end to its two-match losing streak witha 3-1 victory over North Carolina in the Colorado Invitational on Friday evening in Boulder.
The Panthers (3-2) fought off a North Carolina (4-2) rally in game one to win, 30-27, to go up 1-0 in the match. After taking an early lead in game two, the Heels completed the comeback and won a 37-35 marathon to even the match. Pittsburgh fought back, however, to take the third and fourth sets by scores of 30-24 and 30-26, respectively.
Senior middle Jessica McDonald (Valencia, Calif./William S. Hart) continued her strong play at the net with a career-best 11 blocks in the victory. McDonald had two block solos and another career-best nine block assists to lead the Panthers' defensive effort. Her block total ties her for the sixth-highest in Panthers' history and was four more than her previous best. McDonald also added five kills in nine attempts with just one error for a .444 hitting percentage.
Gini Ullery (Tracy, Calif./Tracy) led the way offensively for Pittsburgh with a 20-kill performance. Ullery also added 11 digs for her third double-double in five matches this season. Freshman Diana Andreyko (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) performed well from the other side, connecting on a season-best 18 kills and 11 digs for the first double-double of her career.
Also contributing to the Panthers' offense with a .406 hitting percentage in 32 attempts was senior Megan Miller (Milford, Conn./Jonathan Law). Miller had 16 kills and added two digs, a block and an assist. With her kills total in the match, Miller moved past Melissa Alpers into 10th place on the Panthers' all-time putaways list with 878. Sophomore setter Azadeh Boroumand (Red Deer, Alberta/Thurber) was stellar with a career-best five kills and just one error in eight attempts for a .500 hitting clip. She also had six digs, two block assists and a career-best 57 assists, three more than her previous high set last year in Miami.
Not to be outdone, junior libero Megan McGrane (Muncie, Ind./Delta) had a match and season-high 31 digs for the Panthers. It was McGrane's third 30-plus digs performance of her career and just the 10th for the Panthers since 1990. Junior Ashley White (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East/Indiana), like McDonald, continued to be a force defensively for Pittsburgh with a career-best five block assists and a career-best-tying five digs. It was the second straight match in which White set a new career-best in block assists.
The Panthers will take on No. 20 San Diego in their final match of the Colorado Invitational on Saturday evening. Game time is 7 p.m. EST.
MATCH NOTES: McDonald and White have combined for 29 blocks in the first two matches of the tournament (McDonald - 2 BS, 16 BA, 18 TB; White - 2 BS, 9 BA, 11 TB)...The Panthers outhit the Tar Heels for the match, .204 to .180...Pittsburgh is now 8-3 against UNC and improved its record to 41-20 against teams from the ACC.