DENTON  - North Texas volleyball fell to 1-1 in Conference USA play with a 3-0 defeat to No. 22 Rice (26-28, 27-25, 11-25). Rhett Robinson had another strong game in her second since returning from injury, leading the team with 13 kills.
 
Reigning Conference Player of the Year Nicole Lennon led the Owls and all attackers (13-1, 2-0) with 22 kills. She picked up 11 kills alone in the first set. The Mean Green (7-7, 1-1) led early in sets one and two, taking the Owls to the wire. Rice turned it on in set three as the Owls led for the entire set.
 
The atmosphere was electric inside the Mean Green Volleyball Center with 583 in attendance, an overflow crowd and the largest of 2019. Rice was more efficient in attacking, hitting .311 compared to North Texas' .273.
 
"We really appreciate the crowd," head coach Andrew Palileo said. "We appreciate the support. I know the players love to play in-front of that. Rice did what good teams do. They kept playing the same way until we made mistakes."
 
Kailegh Skopal amassed 26 assists before Palileo put in Kasey Bortnem at setter during set three. Bortnem picked up an assist while adding four digs. Valerie Valerian led the way in digs with 16 while adding eight kills. Barbara Teakell added 12 digs while also picking up eight kills. Sarah Haeussler led the team with four blocks. 
 
"We've been working on that with Kasey," Palileo said. "We wanted to find some high leverage moments to use it and see how Kasey reacts to it. We were a little behind and thought that would be a good moment. I thought she did fine for what opportunities she had."
 
The Mean Green continue conference play on the road with a match Friday at 6 p.m. against Southern Mississippi before travelling to LA Tech on Sunday for a 1 p.m. match.