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The Delaware volleyball team pulled off a thrilling 3-2 (21-25, 19-25, 25-22, 25-20, 15-12) come-from-behind win over the University of North Carolina Tar Heels on Friday night at the Bob Carpenter Center. The Hens (5-5) fought back after dropping the first two games to the North Carolina team. The defending Atlantic Coast Conference Co-Champion Tar Heels (4-6) couldn’t hold off the Hens, who got 23 kills from Katie Dennehy and 13 apiece from Kim Stewart and Michelle LaLonde.
“We just fought,” Barry said. “We found our play and took in the crowd.”
The Hens kept the score close in the first two sets, but could only manage to tie the score once in that span. Delaware had several chances to overcome the Tar Heels during the first two sets, but were plagued by attack errors.
The third set resembled the previous two with Delaware down 4-12, but the Hens fought back with kills from LaLonde, Dennehy, Paige Erickson, Alissa Alker and Kim Stewart, who also contributed an ace on the serve. The Hens won five consecutive points at the end of the third to keep the match alive and overcome the Tar Heels 25-22.
Encouraged by the record crowd of 2,517 in the stands of the Bob Carpenter Center, the Hens came out swinging in the fourth set, where Delaware then got its first lead of the match. The Hens found success again in spreading the ball around, getting points from seven different players, including an ace from senior Stephanie Barry, who recently set a new program record for career digs, as well as a rare kill from setter Jess Chason. Chason also added 52 assists.
The Hens started out the tie-breaking fifth game with a quick 7-1 lead, aided by attack errors by North Carolina. The Tar Heels made a valiant comeback bringing the score back to 13-11, but the Hens closed out the set due to attack and service errors from North Carolina.
North Carolina was led by Ingrid Hanson-Tuntland, who had 17 kills. Kaylie Gibson also contributed a match-high 39 digs for the Tar Heels.
Delaware head coach Bonnie Kenny said she was proud of her team for coming back after being down two games. Delaware had dropped their last three games by a score of 3-1.
“Winning one game isn’t good enough,” Kenny told her team at the break.
Senior Barry, who had 35 digs for the night, was also happy with her team’s perseverance and hard play.
Despite this thrilling win over a difficult opponent, Kenny still sees room for improvement. Her outlook on the rest of the season is still the same.
“Doesn’t change it at all,” Kenny said. “We’re still a work in progress.”
The Hens will look to build on the win when they host Seton Hall (6-9) on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in the Carpenter Sports Building.
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