The Tar Heels improved after each set, raising their hitting percentage from .146 to .317. Laynie Smith led the way offensively as she hit .400 with seven kills on only 15 attacks.

Carolina dropped the first set 25-14, but Bridget Malone was the bright spot as she came off the bench and hit above .444 with four kills.

The Tar Heels had a much better second set, putting together an impressive 7-2 run in the middle of the match that brought the score to 17-18. The Tar Heels continued to fight back against the top-ranked Badgers.

The Tar Heels battled back in the third set as the final set was tied 19 times and there were ten lead changes. 

Maddy May wrapped up her legendary Tar Heel career tonight. May played  in every single set (445) of every single match (118) over her four-year career. May currently sits third all-time in program history with 1622 digs. The senior closed out her time in Chapel Hill on a high note, as she was named Second Team All-ACC for the first time in her career.

PITTSBURGH – The America East champion UMBC Volleyball team season came to end as No.4 Pitt swept an NCAA Tournament first round match-up (25-10, 25-17, 25-13) on Friday night. 

Jalynn Brown led the Retrievers with eight kills, while Pittsburgh-area native Hannah Dobbs added seven kills, three digs and a block. 

Hannah Howard tallied a match-best 11 digs and ended the season with 457 digs, the tenth most in a single season in UMBC history.

Laura Fuehrer had four kills and two blocks and finished the season with 114 blocks and 101 assisted blocks, good for sixth and fifth most, respectively, in a single season in program history. 

Claudia Lllamas picked up six kills, Helen Frankovich had four on .500 hitting with two blocks and Izzy Ostvig added a kill with 12 assists and a team-high three blocks

Serin Maden had 13 assists and finished her stellar career in the black and gold with 2,461 assists.

Ella McAllister chipped in with two digs and Ema Djordjevic also saw action in the contest.

This was both the Retrievers fifth America East championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in the past six seasons.

» Michigan swept Xavier in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

» Allison Jacobs tallied a match-leading 19 kills on a .326 hitting percentage.

» Maddi Cuchran recorded four aces, becoming just the fifth Wolverine with four or more aces in a tournament match.

» Serena Nyambio hit .583 with eight kills on 12 swings.

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — The University of Michigan volleyball team swept eighth-seeded Xavier 25-19, 25-15, 25-23 on Friday (Dec. 5) in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at the Petersen Events Center.

Michigan (22-10) was led by Allison Jacobs, who tallied a match-leading 19 kills on a .326 hitting percentage. She was the only player who recorded double-digit kills in the match. Ella Demetrician had nine kills, including Michigan’s final two and Serena Nyambio hit .583 with eight kills on 12 swings. Maddi Cuchran tallied four service aces to become just the fifth Wolverine in program history with four aces or more in an NCAA Tournament match. Morgan Burke and Camille Edwards led the U-M offense to a .287 hitting percentage, with Burke recording 17 assists and two aces while Edwards had 18 assists and one ace.

A kill from Nyambio opened the match, but Xavier (26-5) responded with a kill. The Wolverines used a kill from Jacobs and an ace from Cuchran to take the lead. Xavier tied the set at five and six, but U-M kept the Musketeers from taking the lead. Michigan followed with a 4-1 run, led by an ace from Burke and a block from Nyambio and Cymarah Gordon. Xavier brought the set to within one at 10-9, but a Nyambio kill ended the threat and jump-started four straight Michigan points. A block from Gordon and Jenna Hanes put Michigan up 15-11 going into the media timeout. The Musketeers took two of the next three points out of the timeout, and Michigan followed with a 5-2 run with kills from three different players and an ace from Burke to go up 21-15. Xavier took four of the next five points to force a Michigan timeout. Out of the timeout, Jacobs recorded a kill followed by a block from Hanes and Gordon to reach set point. The Musketeers called their second timeout of the set, and out of the timeout, Jacobs ended the set with a kill for a 25-19 set one win.

Xavier started the second set with two quick points to take an early lead, but it was all Michigan after that. A 5-0 run led by Cuchran, who recorded her third ace of the match, put the Wolverines ahead 8-3. After the teams traded points midway through the set, U-M went on a 4-0 run to build a 15-7 advantage, but Xavier countered with a 4-0 run of its own. A Nyambio kill and Musketeers attack error forced Xavier’s second timeout of the set, trailing 17-11. After the timeout, Michigan took eight of the final 12 points, with a kill from Demetrician finishing off the set 25-15.

In the third set, the Wolverines jumped out to an early lead, once again 8-3, led by service runs from Edwards and Jacobs. Xavier hung around and tied the match at 11 before taking the lead. A kill from Gordon tied the match at 12 and Cuchran’s fourth ace put Michigan back in front. From there, neither team held a lead bigger than two points the rest of the way, with the final 14 points alternating back and forth. Demetrician tallied the final two Michigan points as U-M took the third set 25-23 to advance to the second round.

The Wolverines will take on either top-seeded and No. 4-ranked Pittsburgh or UMBC on Saturday (Dec. 6) at 7 p.m. in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Petersen Events Center. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+.