Mean Green Volleyball starts Conference USA play Friday

• Tweet
• Pin It

Kyle Youmans / Staff Writer

After a 9-4 start, the Mean Green Volleyball team will begin its quest for a Conference USA championship as they begin conference play Friday at 8:00 p.m. on the road against the University of Texas-El Paso.

North Texas was able to record the best start in program history through the first three nonconference tournaments of the season. They were able to start 9-1 and win the title of all three of those tournaments.

After that start, the Mean Green stumbled to finish out nonconference play. The team went 0-3 in the Jayhawk classic last week, but they were able to figure out what they needed to change to begin conference play.

“The thing I’m most excited to see is how we apply all of the things we’ve learned so far,” head coach Andrew Palileo said. “It’s going to be nice to be able to get back into conference where the matches mean even more and be able to compete to win the title.”

This season the Mean Green is predicted to finish fourth in the conference according to C-USA preseason coaches poll. The only teams predicted to finish above North Texas are Rice University, Western Kentucky University, the defending C-USA champions, the University of Texas-San Antonio .

North Texas will host Rice and UTSA at home this year, which should work in favor of the Mean Green who struggled on the road last season. However, that isn’t the matchup the team is most looking forward to. Instead, they are excited for the rematch against the team that knocked them out of the C-USA Tournament last year, Marshall University.

“I am really excited to get back in conference play again,” senior defender Eboni Godfrey said. “But one game that we as a team are really looking forward to is the Marshall game, because we know they are a really good team. They were able to beat us twice last year so we want to come out and play well against them.”

The Mean Green players want to prove that they are a different team than they were last year, and contend for a championship.

“We are ready to prove to the conference that we are not the same team we were last year,” junior outside hitter Carnae Dillard said. “We have a lot of new things to bring to the table and we are ready to surprise all of the teams.”

Featured Image: Freshman outside hitter Chelsea Abii watches the ball she just spiked go soar over two Abilene Christian University defenders during the Mean Green Classic on Sept. 12. Photo by Caitlyn Jones – Features Editor

• Tweet
• Pin It

Related Posts

• Women’s basketball wins exhibition thriller
  Women’s basketball wins exhibition thriller
• 

  Football to play 1000th game on Saturday
  Football to play 1000th game on Saturday
• 

  Students Yell Like Hell for Homecoming
  Students Yell Like Hell for Homecoming
• 

  Student studies technology’s toll on children
  Student studies technology’s toll on children