Thomas BlackingtonWed, December 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM UTC·2 min readThe UNC volleyball team capped off another solid season with an NCAA tournament invitation. They will compete in Madison, Wisconsin, entering the tournament unseeded and facing sixth-seeded Texas-El Paso in their first matchup. If they advance, they will face the winner of third-seeded Wisconsin or Eastern Illinois.
This is UNC’s second NCAA tournament appearance in a row; the last time UNC competed in two consecutive NCAA tournaments in volleyball was 2016. Overall, this is UNC’s 21st appearance in the postseason tournament. Last year, UNC entered the tournament as an eight seed; the Heels defeated Yale 3-1 before falling to Penn State 3-1. The Nittany Lions would go on to win the national championship.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCarolina head coach Mike Schall continues to prove to be a great hire for the Heels. UNC finished the year with a 21-8 record while compiling a 14-6 record in ACC play. They finished sixth in the league standings and picked up wins against ranked SMU and Florida clubs.
Three Tar Heel players were also named to All-ACC team: Safi Hampton was voted on to the All-ACC First Team, while Maddy May and Chelsea Thorpe were selected for the All-ACC Second Team. It was the first time any of the three had ever received an All-ACC honor. This is the first time since 2021 that UNC had had three players receive All-ACC awards in the same season.
The Heels match against Texas-El Paso will start at 5:30pm EST on Thursday, December 4th. The Heels are 1-0 all-time vs the Miners, with the lone win occurring in 1983. This will be UTEP’s second NCAA tournament bid in the program’s history. UNC is 12-4 in NCAA tournament first round matchups.
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