Bayamón, Puerto Rico – No. 16 North Carolina showed improvement on Saturday night, but dropped the opening match of the ACC/SEC Puerto Rico Clasico, 3-1 (25-23, 25-22, 25-27, 25-21), to Auburn. True freshmen Sehrena Hull and Maddie Grace Hough made their Tar Heel debuts in the match, while junior Madison Laufenberg made her first career start on the right side. With the win, Auburn improves to 4-1 on the year, while Carolina slips to 0-3.
Senior middle hitter Beth Nordhorn had a career night, hitting .