Tiger Volleyball Travels to North Carolina

Nov. 18, 2010

CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson Volleyball team will travel to North Carolina to take on the Tar Heels and NC State on Friday and Saturday. Clemson has won three in a row, upping their record to 17-11 and 8-9 in the conference. The Tigers are vying for an NCAA Tournament bid, and are currently ranked 60th in the most-recent RPI.

Clemson and North Carolina meet (21-9, 12-5 ACC) at 5:00 pm Friday in Carmichael Auditorium. The Tar Heels are ranked #22 in the most recent RPI, and the match will take place as a precursor to the #16 Tar Heel Women’s basketball team’s game at 8:00 pm in the same venue. Clemson an NC State (13-16, 3-14 ACC) play at 7:00 pm on Saturday in Reynolds Gymnasium.

North Carolina Tar Heels – 5:00 pm FridayLivestats: ClemsonTigers.com * North Carolina leads the all-time series, 50-16 over Clemson * The Tar Heels are #22 in the RPI, but have lost three straight matches * The Tigers and Heels split last season’s two matches, with each winning on the road. The Tar Heels won at Clemson in 2010 in the teams’ only meeting so far * North Carolina won, 3-1, despite putting up the same number of points as the Tigers; The Tar Heels’ three set wins came by a combined six points, while Clemson won the third set by six * Clemson registered 20.0 blocks against the Heels, including 12 from Alexa Rand and 7 from Mo Simmons; The Tigers also out-hit UNC, but Carolina had five more kills, and Clemson was plagued by 13 service errors. * The Tigers defeated UNC in Chapel Hill last season in five sets behind 19 kills from Lia Proctor * The Tar Heels are tops in the conference in kills, digs and assists per set * Kaylie Gibson leads the ACC with a 5.51 digs per set average

NC State Wolfpack – 7:00 pm SaturdayLivestats: ClemsonTigers.com * Clemson holds a 36-17 all-time record against NC State, and has won 25 straight in the series * NC State has a new head coach in Bryan Bunn, who has already led NC State to their most wins since the 1999 season * The Pack have nine newcomers from last year’s team * Clemson defeated NC State, 3-2, in Clemson earlier this season; Clemson won the first two sets, lost the second two, and won the fifth, 15-8; NC State had 15.0 blocks in the match, but 17 kills from Sandra Adeleye were the difference, as NC State also had 11 service errors. * Offensively, Becah Fogle’s 3.23 kills per set rank 6th in the ACC and setter Megan Cyr’s 10.15 assists per set average is 6th in the league. Margaret Salata ranks fifth in the conference 1.07 blocks per set average.

Clemson Quick Notes * Cansu Ozdemir is the team’s lone senior player and captain. She is sixth in the ACC with 4.32 digs per set and has been on the team for 92 wins, 3 NCAA Tournament appearances, and the 2007 ACC Championship * Serenat Yaz has 18 double-doubles this year to lead all Tigers, and has 15 of them in ACC matches this year * Yaz is averaging 3.14 kills per set this year after averaging just 0.23 a season ago, an improvement of 2.91 per set. * Sandra Adeleye leads all ACC middle hitters with a 3.36 kills/set average. She ranks in the top ten in the ACC in kills/set, points/set, and blocks/set * Alexa Rand leads the conference and is 6th in the nation in individual blocking, with a 1.46 per set average. She crossed the 300 block plateau in her 59th career match * Natalie Patzin needs 6 digs to reach the 500 kill-500 dig career club. She hit her 500th kill against VT * Clemson ranks 9th nationally and first in the ACC with a 2.80 blocks/set average * The Tigers have gone to five sets six times, and have a 4-2 mark in those contests. Last season, the Tigers played in 10 five-set matches with a 3-7 record in those matches * Freshmen and Sophomores have accounted for 1778.5 of 1802.5 total points (98.6%) * Head Coach Jolene Jordan Hoover is in her 18th season as Clemson’s head coach, and her 377 wins as an ACC head coach rank third in ACC history * Clemson played the 1200th match in school history on Oct. 30