No. 25 Carolina volleyball turned Sunday afternoon into a comeback showcase, erasing Georgia Tech in a five-set battle and finishing with a 3-2 win in Chapel Hill.
The Tar Heels dropped the first two sets, 23-25 and 22-25, and the opening stretch felt like a grind from the start. The first two frames were tight throughout, with eight ties and five lead changes combined, and Carolina kept both sets within reach before Georgia Tech edged away late.
One milestone came early in the second set when Zoe Behrendt reached 2,000 assists. She became one of 11 Tar Heels to hit that mark.
Then came the third set, the one that changed everything. Carolina was staring down a 24-20 deficit when Georgia Tech appeared to finish the match with a block.
The Yellow Jackets rushed the floor celebrating, but head coach Mike Schall challenged for a net fault. The call was overturned, Carolina stayed alive, and the building erupted on ‘Dress Like Mike Day,’ with the crowd in bald caps.
From there, the Tar Heels dug in and kept extending the set. They won the next three points to make it 24-24, then survived another match point to get to 25-25, and again at 26-26.
Addison West gave UNC a 27-26 edge with a kill, and then Zoe Behrendt and Lauren Schutter combined on a block to finish the set and keep Carolina in the match.
The fourth set stayed close, but Carolina controlled it from the jump. The Tar Heels never let Georgia Tech draw even, built the lead to 18-11, and forced a Yellow Jackets timeout.
Georgia Tech trimmed the margin to 20-17, prompting Carolina to take a timeout of its own. The teams traded points from there, and UNC carried a 24-20 advantage.
Georgia Tech saved two set points, but Chelsea Thorpe put away a kill to send the match to a fifth set.
Carolina took charge immediately in the decider, jumping ahead 7-2 and never surrendering the lead. Safi Hampton’s 22nd kill of the day pushed the Tar Heels to 13-9, and Thorpe and Laynie Smith finished the job.
Hampton tied her career high with 22 kills, doing it for the second time in a week. Thorpe added 17, Smith finished with 11, and Behrendt posted a double-double with 30 assists and 12 digs. Lauren Schutter led the team with six blocks.
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