UNC Volleyball: Mike Schall earns first career victories

A new era for the UNC Volleyball program began on Friday afternoon, with head coach Mike Schall earning his first career victories.

The UNC volleyball program began its 2023 season out west in the Catcus Classic in Tuscon, Arizona, at the University of Arizona. They began a new era with head coach Mike Schall at the helm. Their first matchup of the Catcus Classic came against Pacific University. Schall isn’t new to the program, as he has been an assistant since 2018, but is new to the head coaching role.

During the first matchup against Pacific, the Tar Heels battled the Tigers in five tightly contested sets. The Tar Heels won the first and third set 27-25 and 25-22, respectively, while Pacific won both the second and fourth set 25-22, forcing a fifth, winner-take-all set. In another tightly contested set, the Tar Heels came away with the 15-13 win to take the match 3-2 and secure Mike Schall his first career victory as a head coach.

The Tar Heels played their second match in the Catcus Classic on Friday night against the University of Arizona, where they won 3-2. Carolina got off to a fast start against the Wildcats, taking the first two sets 25-18 and 25-21. Arizona stormed back in the third and fourth sets with 26-24 and 25-18 victories to force a fifth set. Once again, in their tenth set of the day, the Tar Heels beat Arizona 16-14 to move to 2-0 on the season.

The third and final game of the Catcus Classic for the UNC volleyball program will come on Saturday at 3:00 PM against UC Davis as Schall will be looking to begin his head coaching career in Chapel Hill with a 3-0 record.

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