Aug. 21, 2002

As the Tar Heel volleyball program continues to get more national recognition, the early season tournament schedule will get more difficult. Before the annual ACC slate, Carolina will face top-notch opponents in four different weekend tournaments.

The team opens the season hosting the Carolina/Nike Classic in Carmichael Auditorium. The action begins with the Tar Heels facing an up and coming New Mexico State team in the season opener Friday, Aug. 30. A tough St. John's team follows on Saturday before the team faces off against Wisconsin, who finished 2001 ranked No. 6 in the country.

"Wisconsin is a program that people look up to, and we would like to measure ourselves by how well we can compete with a team like that," head coach Joe Sagula said.

The next week it is off to San Diego for three matches in the University of San Diego Classic. The team faces Montana, Northwestern and the host school in that tournament. San Diego finished 2001 25th in the national poll - just one spot in front of the Tar Heels.

Next on tap is the University of Minnesota Tournament in Minneapolis. This may the team's toughest test before ACC play starts, as the Tar Heels face off against a Ball State team hungry for success after missing the 2001 NCAA Tournament by just one win. The other competition at the tournament is equally foreboding in a pair of 2001 NCAA teams in Minnesota and Oregon State.

"What we have to do is learn to compete at that level match to match," Sagula said. "The good part of that schedule is that we face really good competition consecutively.

"We want to do well early. One of the things the team wants to do is be successful out of conference. That helps the team prepare for postseason opponents."

The Carolina/Duke Classic is the last regular season tournament on the schedule, with UNC facing off against both Georgetown and Rutgers.

"With this caliber of teams that we are facing we could easily go .500 and that may be considered a good start to others," Sagula said of the first month of the season. "But how we play is the question, how competitive are we?"

Carolina's ACC schedule opens at home hosting NC State on Sept. 27. From there out 16 of the next 17 games are against ACC opponents.

While the Tar Heels finished atop the ACC Preseason Coaches Poll, there is any number of teams waiting for Carolina to make its first mistake.

"I think the conference is significantly better than it was last year," Sagula said. "As much as we return 10 veterans, the rest of the conference returns good, experienced players as well.

"Anyone of five or six teams on paper right now could probably have enough talent to win this conference. I just hope that we are one of those - there are no guarantees." Duke and Georgia Tech are right behind Carolina in the poll, and numbers four through seven are only separated by nine points.

Last season, the team dropped four ACC matches in a seven game span, losing on the road to Maryland, Georgia Tech and Florida and at home to Wake Forest. This year, the team plays on consecutive days four times vs. ACC opponents.

Oct. 10 and 11 a Duke team that finished first in the ACC with a 13-3 record, and Wake Forest come to Carmichael. Last season, 2,017 fans packed into Carmichael to witness the Tar Heels top the Blue Devils 3-0. A week later, the team takes a two-day road trip to Maryland (Oct. 18) and Virginia (Oct. 19) for a pair of night games.

The first two days of November feature Georgia Tech, which finished the 2001 regular season tied for second place with the Tar Heels, and Clemson coming to Carolina. Then one week later the team heads on an important stretch of five conference games in 10 days. From Nov. 8 to Nov. 17, the team goes on the road to face Duke and Wake Forest, before three home matches against Virginia, Florida State and Maryland to wrap up the season.

"It's going to be harder for the first place team to win more than 10 matches this year," Sagula said. "Parity is probably right next to the word ACC."

After the regular season closes, the team heads to the ACC Tournament, which this year will be played in Atlanta from Nov. 21 to Nov. 24.

Sagula said that staying healthy and focused through the regular season will be key for the team to in position to win the conference tournament for the fourth time in four years.