Nov. 20, 2008

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The North Carolina volleyball team holds a one match lead in the race for the ACC Championship with three matches remaining in the season, including Thursday night's showdown with second place Miami (24-5, 12-5 ACC) at 7 p.m. in the Dean E. Smith Center. The Tar Heels (19-9, 13-4 ACC) enter the weekend on an eight-match winning streak dating back to a 3-1 setback in Miami on Oct. 18, while Miami enters by winning seven of their last 10 matches. Carolina will close out the weekend by hosting Florida State (19-8, 11-6 ACC) at 7 p.m. Friday night where the four Tar Heel seniors will be honored before one of their final matches in Carolina blue.

The winner of Thursday's night will move into the lead spot in the race for the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship race as Miami would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Tar Heels and with a win Carolina would maintain its hold on the ACC lead with a two game lead over the 'Canes and a one game advantage over rival Duke (21-8, 12-5 ACC).

Scouting Miami
The Hurricanes have won four straight and five of their last six matches to pull within one game of the ACC lead. Miami is one of the top offensive teams in the ACC ranking third in hitting percentage, assists, kills and second in service aces. Freshman Lane Carico leads the way on the offensive side with a team-high 334 kills, ranking sixth in the ACC, while junior Genny Mayhew is averaging 3.14 kills per set for eighth place. Setter Katie Gallagher ranks fifth in the conference in assists per game at 10.46 and is one of the better servers in the conference with 31 aces on the year.

All-Time Against Miami
The Hurricanes hold the all-time lead against North Carolina winning seven of the 16 meetings between the two teams, including the last two. The Tar Heels do have an edge in the last five matches by winning the three previous matches between the teams. Miami captured the earlier meeting between the teams by a 3-1 margin on Oct. 18.

Scouting Florida State
The Seminoles are one of three teams with an 11-6 conference record lurking within two games of the conference lead. Florida State has won their last four matches, including a pair of impressive weekends last weekend over Clemson and Georgia Tech that helped vault Carolina into the top spot in the ACC. The Seminoles use a combination of offense and defense to neutralize their opponents as they rank in the middle of the pack in nearly every category in the ACC. Junior setter Nikki Baker ranks first in the league in assists per set with 10.86 in her 100 sets on the year. Senior libero Ashlee Moon trails only Carolina's Brianna Eskola in digs per set as Moon has tallied 4.94 per set on the year.

All-Time Against Florida State
Florida State holds the all-time series lead with a 30-18 record against the Tar Heels. The Tar Heels battled back to claim a 3-2 win in Tallahassee earlier this year to snap a two-match losing streak against the Seminoles.