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Thursday, February, 6

Mean Green volleyball attains a road victory against the 49ers

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North Texas (11-5, C-USA 5-1) volleyball defeated Charlotte (11-11, C-USA 1-5) by three sets to zero on Oct. 18. The Mean Green won each match 25-13, 25-17, 27-25. North Texas volleyball now has nine straight set wins.

The last time they did it this season was in the Abilene Christian University tournament. The Mean Green starters were junior setter Kaleigh Skopal, junior outside hitter Barbara Teakell, middle blocker Miranda Youmans, sophomore outside hitter Rhett Robinson, junior outside hitter Valerie Valerian, middle blocker Alysha Johnson and defensive specialist and Jordan Burks.

“Tonight was all about our defense,” head coach Andrew Palileo said. “We’ve been working on putting ourselves in a good position to see the hitter and we did that well.”

Robinson had 19 kills with a hitting percentage of 31.1 percent, three digs and three blocks. Skopal had 40 assists and seven digs in concert with Skopal and Burks who each had and an ace against the 49ers. Valerian had 28 digs and 11 kills giving her a double-double on the night. Burks had 20 digs and six assists. Johnson had an overall hitting percentage of 44.4 percent with eight kills and one assist. Youmans had a kill percentage of 40 percent with six kills and one dig. Teakell had nine kills and 15 digs.

“[Robinson]’s been doing a good job,” Palileo said. “[Skopal] is getting the ball to her. Rhett is gaining confidence and it is really showing.”

North Texas accumulated 53 kills against Charlotte who had 36 kills. As a team, North Texas’ hitting percentage was 25.4 percent against Charlotte’s’ 16.4 percent. The Mean Green had 48 assists and Charlotte as a team acquired 35 assists. North Texas had 80 digs compared to the 49ers with 65 giving the edge to North Texas.

“[Valerian] did really well,” Palileo said. “She got some big kills as well and took a lot of swings for us.”

Junior outside hitter Sydney Rowan for the 49ers had 16 kills and 20 digs giving her a double-double. Freshman setter Annika Wetterstrom had 32 assists and 10 digs giving her a double-double. Senior middle blocker Jocelyn Stoner had four blocks and eight kills. Senior defense specialist Yumi Garcia had 18 digs and two assists.

“We’re going in confident because we know we are doing things well and playing good defense,” Palileo said. “We have been able to take advantage of some of the things we have seen.”

UP NEXT: North Texas goes on the road to square off Marshall on Oct. 20.

Featured Image: Sophomore outside hitter Rhett Robinson and junior setter Kaleigh Skopal block a spike during the game against Southern Mississippi on Oct. 13, 2019. Image by Isabel Anes

Article Originally Published by on North Texas Daily

Source: North Texas Daily

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