STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Taylor Fricano, Julia Scoles and Taylor Treacy each recorded eight kills, and No. 19 North Carolina hit .303 as a team to take a 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-15) season-opening volleyball victory over Georgia Southern Friday evening in the Penn State Classic.

Katie Bange tallied nine kills, 12 assists and two blocks to lead the Eagles (0-1), and Lauren Reichard collected nine kills and a block. Stephanie Spencer posted eight kills and five digs, and Alex Beecher finished with 19 digs.

Abigail Curry had a match-high 28 assists for the Tar Heels (1-0), and Sheila Doyle posted 18 digs. Fricano added five blocks and hit .636 in the match.

The Story
The Tar Heels had 11.5 team blocks and held Georgia Southern to .093 hitting as a team. North Carolina never trailed in the first set while opening a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Eagles scored the first three points of the second set before the Tar Heels rattled off six in a row. North Carolina went on to open a six-point lead, but the Eagles cut the margin to 20-17 on a kill by Reichard. The Eagles were down 23-20 but committed a serving error to make it set point, and after Megan Chevalier logged a kill for Georgia Southern, Taylor Leath ended the set with a kill for the Tar Heels.

North Carolina never trailed in the third set and broke it open with an 8-3 run, keyed by two Treacy kills, midway through the frame.

Quotable from head coach Dustin Wood
"It was an up and down night. We came out with a lot of energy, but we served really soft the first set and they kept us off balance defensively. We served much more aggressively in the second set and played with them most of the set but had a few mental errors that cost us." 

"I was happy the way we competed for half the match, but if we can clean up the other half we are going to be well on our way of doing something special." 

"We're looking forward to the opportunity tomorrow to play Penn State and compete and then face a Big 12 opponent in West Virginia. We are putting our kids in great opportunities and looking forward to what the season will bring us bring us."

Next Up
The Eagles continue play in the Penn State Classic, when they take on host Penn State, which is ranked ninth in the country, at 10 a.m. Georgia finishes the weekend by playing West Virginia Saturday a 4:30 p.m.
 
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Fans can purchase tickets to Georgia Southern Athletics events by visiting GSEagles.com/tickets.