After win in ACC vs. SEC clash, this NCAA volleyball squad believes it can contend

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Safi Hampton wanted to see Carmichael Arena full of fans. The junior outside hitter from Jessup, Maryland, started taking little fliers with her to class and passing them around to fellow students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“It sounds so corny, but literally in class I’m like, ‘Hey you should come to a volleyball game,’” Hampton says. “And people showed up. So it works.”

Hampton and her teammates on UNC’s volleyball team gave the announced crowd of 1,753 people on Tuesday night a good reason to keep coming back.

Behind a team-high 11 kills from Hampton, the 25th-ranked Tar Heels swept No. 11 Florida (25-23, 25-18, 25-21), delivering a statement victory and keeping their unbeaten 5-0 start intact.

“That had nothing to do with (Florida) at all. That was the first time, I think, that we played our game. We did the scout. Everyone on the team did their job,” Hampton said. “We knew where we were going. No one was confused. There was no questions about what we were doing. The moves that we were making were very on point.”

The Gators entered this clash with the Tar Heels — which was a key matchup in a series of SEC versus ACC games in the inaugural Shriners Children’s Showdown at the Net — as one of the more highly thought-of teams in the country. Despite a season-opening loss to Stanford, Florida rebounded with a convincing victory over then-third-ranked Pitt. Entering this game against UNC, the Gators were 12-1 all-time against the Tar Heels.

After the Tar Heels won a tightly contested opening set that featured four lead changes and eight ties, the belief that they could not only play with the Gators, but soundly beat them, began to settle in. UNC opened the second set on a 14-5 run and never surrendered the lead. The third set was more competitive, but the Tar Heels sealed the sweep when Florida spiked the ball out of bounds.

Shortly after the ball zoomed by her head, Chelsea Thorpe ran to the middle of the floor, pumped her fists and celebrated with her teammates. It was the first time since 2016 the Tar Heels had swept a ranked a opponent.

“You got to be aggressive. You want to win those big games and those tight moments,” said Thorpe, the redshirt junior opposite from Chicago. “We never doubt each other… We knew we were going to win this game, and everybody was just itching to get on the court.”

According to the volleyball statistics and analytics website Evollve, UNC entered Tuesday’s match ranking second nationally in percentage of points won while receiving. The percentage dropped a little bit after the win over Florida to 68.8 percent — which is still fourth nationally — but it’s a figure that perhaps indicates how well the Tar Heels read scouts and react to what their opponents are giving them.

Hampton said that Florida is known for its offensive prowess and big hitters. The way they countered that, she explained, was a blocking system. Thorpe and Jackie Taylor each tallied four blocks apiece, while the rest of the team collectively combined for four more.

From the vantage point of third-year Tar Heels’ head coach Mike Schall, his team couldn’t have followed the scout any better.

“Scouts are tricky, and you want to do everything you can to prepare for an opponent. And at the same time, they talked about playing free, and that’s when we’re at our best — when we’re free to play. So it’s this tricky balance,” Schall said. “I thought our staff just did an incredible job of preparing our team, but then at some point, you come out of the locker room and you just have to let it fly. It was a blast to watch them out there.”

He added: “Offensively, we’re still trying to figure things out, but we had some clutch kills, some gutty plays, even when we got blocked… Our coverage was great. It kept us alive in some rallies that maybe would have gone dead. I’m a stickler on coverage though. I want us to be even better there.”

The Tar Heels are aiming to build off last season where they went 23-8 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, where they fell to eventual national champion Penn State. To take the next step, Schall brought in five transfers and two freshmen. Those additions have increased UNC’s depth and versatility. While 11 players saw action against the Gators, 17 players have taken the court in at least two matches this season.

For Schall, the victory over Florida is his second over a ranked opponent since he became the head coach at UNC. While he was hesitant to call the result a “statement win” — though it very much was part of signature night for the ACC, which went 5-3 against the SEC — he did believe the victory represented something bigger for the program.

“Part of the hurdle that we needed to get over was believing that we could win a match like that. And so, I don’t know about statement — we have a whole lot of our schedule filled with some top 20 teams,” Schall said. “I think what it did for us is instill a belief, and maybe brought to light, a lot of the things that we’ve been seeing on a daily basis with this group.”

Between Oct. 26 and Nov. 7, the Tar Heels have a four-game stretch that includes clashes with Louisville, SMU, Pitt and Stanford. Two of those teams made the Final Four last year and all four are currently in the top 10 of the AVCA poll.

While that seems like an intimidating collection of opponents, the Tar Heels are now going to enter that part of their schedule with newfound energy and confidence after beating Florida.

The statement that UNC made on Tuesday is that there’s a new contender in the ACC.

“I don’t think it’s a surprise,” Thorpe said. “We’ve been working for this, and we know what it takes to win.”