Nov. 7, 2003

Box Score

Chapel Hill, N.C. - Senior middle hitter Aletha Green had a career high ten blocks and junior outside hitter Molly Pyles had twenty digs to lead UNC past Maryland 3-2. The Tar Heels won 26-30, 30-26, 33-31, 25-30, 15-13. Carolina improves to 18-9 and 9-4 in the ACC, while Maryland drops to 22-6 and 11-3 in conference play.

Green added nine kills and Pyles had 15 kills, including the final kill of the match, to lead a balanced Carolina attack. Junior setter Norma Cortez had a career high 59 assists and 13 digs, while junior middle hitter Katie Wright had 18 kills and six blocks.

"This was real big for us," said UNC head coach Joe Sagula. "I'm just real proud that they stayed with it after getting off to a slow start and came back. To beat a team that was this hot tells our team that we are this good."

Other key players included sophomore outside hitter Dani Nyenhuis, junior libero Caroline deRoeck and freshmen outside hitter Meg Eckert. Nyenhuis had 18 kills, 12 digs and 65 total attempts, which is a team-high for the season. deRoeck added to her team-leading season dig total, as she had 14 digs. Eckert had ten digs, six kills and three blocks.

"To reach the NCAA Tournament, we need every win we can get at this point," said Sagula. "A win over a highly ranked team, a top 40 team, will help us tremendously."

Maryland was led by Lynnsy Jones and Fiona DeFreitas. Jones had 24 kills and 14 digs while DeFreitas had 28 digs. Sarah Treadwell chipped in with 16 kills and 19 digs and Maria DiLivio had 11 kills and 14 digs.

The Tar Heels take on Virginia on Saturday at Carmichael Auditorium at 6 p.m. The match will mark senior day for Tammy Foxworth and Aletha Green.