DENTON – North Texas volleyball wrapped the regular season with a five-set win (25-20, 25-17, 23-25, 17-25, 15-8) over UTSA on Saturday.  Valerie Valerian led the way with 18 kills and 10 digs for her 18th double-double this season. She also hit .410.
 
Avery McCrillis set a new career high with nine kills hitting .412. The Mean Green (16-10, 10-4) have secured a spot in the Conference USA tournament as the three seed.

"We played a little bit tougher in set five," head coach Andrew Palileo said. "Avery did great. I challenged her to have the first and third touch, and she responded well. We are really excited for her and hopefully this will build a bit of confidence for her."
 
The Mean Green trailed early in set one before recovering after calling a timeout. North Texas tied the set at 10 riding the wave of two big back-to-back blocks by Miranda Youmans and Rhett Robinson. The Roadrunners (15-12, 8-6) called their own timeout with the score tied at 10.
 
The two sides traded points for the latter half of the opening set before North Texas was forced to call its second timeout trailing 19-16. North Texas surged back through a couple crucial kills from McCrillis and Robinson forcing UTSA to use a timeout with the set tied at 20. North Texas won five-straight points to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Robinson finished with 11 kills.
 
"I thought we played very well in those first two sets," Palileo said. "Then we kind of got erratic a bit, and bought it back just in time for set five."  
 
North Texas jumped out to a lead early in set two it would never give up. Set three featured North Texas hit over .400 for the second consecutive set, but UTSA fought back in the 20's to take the set 25-23 hitting .484.
 
The Mean Green fell behind early in set four before calling their second timeout trailing 13-7. The Roadrunners would force a fifth set with a strong performance in set four from beginning to end, picking up 15 kills on .467 hitting.
 
The intensity was cranked up in set five the Mean Green looked to hold on in front of the home crowd. The Mean Green did just that, with strong blocking and attacking in the final set to close out the win. North Texas had seven kills in the final set. North Texas out blocked UTSA nine to five in the match.
 
The focus now shifts to the Conference USA tournament, which begins at Rice on Thursday.

"We are facing some adversity here at the end of the year," Palileo said. "Our focus is just on those who have the opportunity to go out there and play, and just see them go play. Take advantage of that opportunity. We are what we are. You cannot reinvent yourself, and even if you do you do not have a lot of time to perfect."