6
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2008
Senior Eskola leads UNC
to ACC title, NCAA berth
Libero now owns ACC digs record
BY scon POWERS
SENIOR WRITER
Of all the liberos and defen
sive specialists in the history of
the ACC, not one has recorded as
many digs as North Carolina senior
Brianna Eskola.
Eskola set the conference career
record at 2,213 digs in UNC’s ACC
clinching victory against N.C. State
on Friday.
But to her teammates and
coaches, Eskola’s importance isn’t
in the number of attacks she pre
vents from reaching the floor but in
her leadership on the court.
“She’s just always so encourag
ing,” senior outside hitter Lauren
Prussing said. “If we are having a
rut that we can’t get out of in prac
tice, she steps in and refocuses
everyone.”
Eskola has taken her role as a
leader to heart this year.
“There’s usually someone who’s
the enforcer and everything, and
for me it was easier and more natu
ral just to be like, ‘You can do this
really well,’ or, ‘Go after it,”’ Eskola
said.
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The Minnesota native has a
long-time connection to the North
Carolina volleyball team, coming
to camps at UNC when she was in
middle school.
“The good and the bad news is:
Bri was about 5-foot-6 in seventh
grade and only grew about an inch
afterward,” coach Joe Sagula said.
“At that point, we thought she had
potential to become a great outside
hitter or anything.”
By the time Eskola was looking
at colleges, the Tar Heel coaching
staff was recruiting her as a libero.
“She came in with a great vision
for reading the game on defense,”
Sagula said. “I thought she came
with a very good natural ability
and a willingness to throw her body
around and go after balls.”
In her first year, Eskola played
defensive specialist for the Tar
Heels, who won the ACC champi
onship. The next year she stepped
up as the starting libero.
UNC went through two difficult
years, finishing ninth and sixth in
the ACC before returning to the top
of the conference this year.
Sports
This season the coaches saw a
change in how Eskola acted on the
court.
“She was much more demand
ing this year, which has put her at
a level which has been one of our
most valuable people in this pro
gram, and that’s what you get when
you have people who are willing to
step it up and put it all on the line,”
Sagula said.
And Eskola has maintained her
positive presence on the court.
“What I love about playing with
Bri is when I get a kill and then
I turn around, she’s the first per
son behind me, just screaming,”
Prussing said.
The result was Eskola’s second
ACC championship. She said the
return to the top of the conference
was very different from winning it
three years ago.
“We were freshmen,” Eskola
said. “It wasn’t really our team.
This year it’s more of our team. We
play a significant role, and it’s not
just the hard work we put into this
year but the past two years. And we
know how hard it is to get back.”
Contact the Sports Editor
at sports @ unc.edu.
Tar Heels wait for bowl pick
Possible trips to Nashville, Charlotte
BY DAVID ELY
SENIOR WRITER
The North Carolina Tar Heels
didn’t have long to savor their vic
tory at rival Duke on Saturday.
As players ushered in to the
visitors’ locker room at Wallace
Wade Stadium, questions quickly
turned from UNC’s hard-fought
victory to speculation about where
the Tar Heels will go bowling later
this month for the first time since
2004.
Some players simply said they
will be grateful to go to whichever
bowl chooses UNC. Others offered
their cities of choice, or what con
ferences they’d most like to square
off against.
But sophomore safety Deunta
Williams was bolder when it came
to where he thought his team
should play.
“Where ever the national cham
pionship game is,” he joked.
Of course, North Carolina isn’t
in the mix for a BCS title —and
Williams added that he was “just
kidding.”
But there are a few noteworthy
bowls that look like possible des
tinations: the Chick-fil-A Bowl in
Atlanta; the Champs Sports Bowl
in Orlando; the Gaylord Hotels
Music City Bowl in Nashville,
Tenn.; and the Meineke Car Care
Bowl in Charlotte.
The Chick-fil-A Bowl gets the
first choice of ACC squads after the
FedEx Orange Bowl, and the bowl
has sent a representative to most of
UNC’s games. The Champs Sports
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Bowl is fourth in the pecking order,
followed by the Music City Bowl
and the Car Care Bowl.
Scott Ramsey, president and
CEO of the Music City Bowl, said
each bowl’s selection hinges on
the outcome of Saturday’s ACC
Championship Game in Tampa,
Fla.
“I think that North Carolina
would be a great fit for us,” Ramsey
said. “But there’s a lot of parity in
the conference. I think we have to
see how it will play out in front of
us.”
At 8-4, 4-4 in the ACC, the Tar
Heels are at the mercy of the title
game’s outcome and the whims of
the bowl committees on Sunday.
If Boston College wins, Ramsey
said Florida State and Georgia
Tech could become possible picks
for the Chick-fil-A Bowl and the
Konica Minolta Gator Bowl in
Jacksonville, Fla.
If Virginia Tech wins, he
said BC could end up playing
in Nashville because the Eagles
played in Jacksonville and
Orlando last year in the ACC title
game and Champs Sports Bowl,
respectively.
As far as the Music City Bowl is
concerned, North Carolina fits the
requirements of a potential can
didate: a team that travels well, is
on the rebound and has a fan base
within driving distance.
Regardless of where the Tar
Heels end up playing, coach
Butch Davis said bowl games
have a tremendous impact on a
laily ®ar Bwl
“/ think that North
Carolina would he
a gpeatfit for us.
But there’s a lot
of parity in the
conference”
SCOn RAMSEY, MUSIC CITY BOWL
UNC Bowl Predictions
CBS Sports Gaylord Hotels
Music City; vs. Kentucky
Bruce Feldman (ESPN)
Gaylord Hotels Music City; vs.
Vanderbilt
Mark Schlabach (ESPN)
Meineke Car Care; vs. West
Vjrginia
Stewart Mandel (SI)
Meineke Car Care; vs. Pittsburgh
program.
That includes the 10 to 15 addi
tional practices UNC gets for
participating in a bowl, and the
recruiting boost it enjoys when
high schoolers visit the Tar Heels
as they prep for their postseason
destination.
“If you’re fortunate enough to
be a program that gets a chance
to go to bowl games every single
year,” Davis said, “it’s unbelievably
invaluable for your football pro
gram.”
Contact the Sports Editor
at sports@unc.edu.