Nov. 13, 2000

Chapel Hill - The University of North Carolina volleyball team heads to Winston-Salem to defend their 1999 ACC Championship title. The Tar Heels finished the regular season 23-7 and 13-3 in the ACC, tied for first with Georgia Tech (13-3). The ACC Tournament begins Thursday (Nov.16). The Tar Heels play Friday (Nov. 17) at 4:30 p.m., matching up against the winner of the Thursday night contest between Clemson (#7) and Maryland (#8).

Carolina enters the ACC Tournament as the number two seed although they share the regular season title with Georgia Tech. The two teams each split their matches earlier in the season, with each team winning in five games. A tiebreaker is determined by measuring games won and lost within the conference. Carolina recorded 44 wins and 26 losses and Georgia Tech had 44 wins and 17 losses during the conference season.

The Tar Heels are led by senior Casey Simpson averaging 3.98 kills per game, recording a career high 28 kills against Georgia Tech (Nov.11). Simpson has already surpassed the 1,000 mark in kills and needs only 42 digs to reach 1,000 in digs. Freshman Nicole Reis boasts 4.57 kills per game and has reached the 30+ mark in the last two matches including a career -high 34 kills versus Clemson (11/7). Sophomore Laura Greene rounds out the heavy hitters averaging 3.86 kills and is also the leading dig-getter for the Tar Heels with 3.20 per game.

Setter Eve Rackham set a new UNC individual record for assists tallying 94 against Georgia Tech (Nov.11). Rackham also holds the number three spot for all-time career leaders with 2,865 assists and currently leads the ACC averaging 13.42 assists per game. Junior Krista Buchholz is on her way to a spot in the history books, ranking fourth overall in season bests averaging 1.29 blocks per game and also ranks fifth in block assists (119) for the season.

Including last year, Carolina boasts a total five ACC Championship titles. In 1999, UNC finished the regular season second on their way to their first ACC title in10 years and would advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament.