ABILENE – Head coach Andrew Palileo picked up his 400th and 401st win as a collegiate head coach with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-22) wins over Abilene Christian and Prairie View A&M (25-14, 25-22, 25-21).
 
He is the third coach to eclipse 400 wins while coaching in Conference USA. Palileo's 400th win comes after 20 years of head coaching between four schools.
 
"It's great to win all three matches," Palileo said. "It was a tough schedule today. I thought the girls did a good job pulling together and adjusting."
 
Valerie Valerian was named tournament MVP while Sarah Haeussler landed on the All-Tournament team. North Texas went a perfect 3-0 winning nine of nine sets played. It's the first time since Oct. 28-Nov. 8, 2018 that the Mean Green (5-4) won nine straight sets.
 
"It feels great," Valerian said. "We've really been putting in the work in practice this week. It feels nice to come back and sweep everybody. I think it shows that we will keep improving. We will keep improving and prepare for the home tournament this week."
 
North Texas 3, Abilene Christian 0
Valerian tied a career high in kills with 21 while Barbara Teakell set a new season high with 15 kills. Kaliegh Skopal provided 48 assists, the most since exactly a week ago on Sept. 7.
 
Teakell and Valerian both had double-doubles, with Valerian picking up 17 digs while Teakell had 14. Aleeyah Galderia continued a strong run of games with 19 digs. That's now four straight games with more than 15 digs for the freshman from Hawai'i.
 
Fellow freshman Alysha Johnson had six kills. Sarah Haeussler also provided six. The Mean Green hit 63 percent in the final set to defeat the Wildcats (2-7)
 
"When the freshman are playing well it just helps the team as a whole," Valerian said. "They have been doing their jobs this season and seeing them doing their jobs really builds the energy and builds the intensity. If they do their jobs it feels like our team is complete."
 
North Texas 3, PVA&M 0
The Panthers (0-11) put up quite a fight, being the only the second team to get to 20 or more points twice on North Texas in the weekend. Johnson went for nine kills on 13 attacks for a .615 hitting percentage, her highest of her young career. The Mean Green out dug Prairie View 52-33.
 
Three Mean Green got into double-digit kills with Valerian providing 17, Teakell getting 13 and Haeussler getting 10. Teakell and Valerian both had double-doubles again. Skopal set the ball 108 times for 49 assists.
 
North Texas now looks forward to the North Texas Challenge which will run Sept. 19-21. The Mean Green will play hosts to Kansas State, New Mexico and Ohio.
 
"Anytime you can go into a tournament coming off of wins you always get a bit of momentum as well as confidence," Palileo said. "That's what we'll be looking towards and focusing on. We'll look to progress and continue to move forward with it adding new sets or alternative sets if we need to make adjustments. This weeks is all about adjustments and if we have to make those we will."