CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – App State volleyball fell 25-15, 25-14, 25-13 at North Carolina on Thursday evening in its final match of the spring season.
McCall Denny paced the App State (1-15) offense with 15 kills and a .206 hitting percentage. Her 15 kills were one shy of tying her career high of 16, set on Oct. 24 in the second match against Georgia State earlier this season. She added four digs and a block.
Madison Baldridge tallied five kills and
Anna Kincaid chipped in with four kills.
Sam Bickley dished out 23 assists to go along with four digs.
Emma Reilly finished with a team leading eight digs and
Grace Kinsch added four digs.
App State used a kill from Kincaid and Tar Heel (7-2) attack error to score the first two points of the contest. North Carolina scored the next three points, but the Mountaineers knotted the score at 3-3 on another kill by Kincaid. UNC broke a 4-4 tie with three straight points and used a 4-0 run later in the set to extend its lead to 13-7. App State pulled within 14-9, before the Tar Heels answered with six of the next seven points. The Black and Gold trimmed the UNC lead to eight late, but could get no closer, dropping the opening frame 25-15.
In the second set, the Mountaineers took an early 2-0 lead on a kill from Denny and a service ace from Reilly. The Tar Heels answered with two consecutive points, but App State came right back with two points on a service error and Denny kill. From there, UNC scored the next six points to take an 8-4 lead. The Mountaineers came right back with three of the next four points to pull within 9-7. From there, UNC went on a 4-1 spurt to build a 13-8 advantage and used a 5-0 run later in the set to take a 21-12 lead. The Tar Heels went on to win the second set 25-14.
North Carolina took an 8-2 lead in Set 3. The Tar Heels pushed their lead to 10 points at 15-5 and opened a 21-9 edge. The Mountaineers responded with three consecutive points, getting a kill from Kincaid along the way to pull within 21-12. Following a UNC point, the Black and Gold trimmed its deficit to 22-13 on a Baldridge kill. From there, the Tar Heels captured the final three points to clinch the set and match.
Parker Austin led a balanced North Carolina offensive attack with nine kills, while Skyy Howard added eight kills. Karenna Wurl finished with a match best 13 digs on defense.
