DENTON - North Texas volleyball dropped a five-set heartbreaker to New Mexico (25-13, 20-25, 26-24, 25-27, 13-15). Valerie Valerian had 23 kills, a new season high. She moved her career total to 986 which puts her 9th all-time in program history. She needs 17 kills to move into 8th ahead of Jessica Brown (1,002). 
 
Valerian picked up her seventh double-double as she also had 15 digs. Freshman Aleeyah Galderia led with 22 digs. Valerian was the only Mean Green (5-6) to break into double-digits with kills. 
 
"We put ourselves into positions to do good things," head coach Andrew Palileo said. "We need to play better in the big moments. Anytime the stats are really close in every category and you lose, that means you lose some of the big points. We need to do a better job in those moments." 
 
Kailegh Skopal provided 45 digs for North Texas. The Lobos (3-7) hit a match high .279 in a losing third set, and hit. 250 in set five compared to North Texas .192 in the deciding set. 
 
Freshman Avery McCrillis saw her first action since Sept. 5, playing in sets three, four and five. She had two kills, a dig and assisted on two blocks. 
 
"I congratulated her," Palileo said. "I thought she did a good job. She didn't get a lot of kills, but she didn't make a lot of errors. Sometimes you just try to get their feet wet a little bit, but she handled herself well. She was calm and that's what I wanted to see." 
 
North Texas closes out tournament play for the season on Saturday at 12:30 against Ohio, who is 2-0 in the North Texas Challenge.