HUNTINGTON, WV - After defeating #4 Florida Atlantic University on Friday to stretch the winning streak to eight-straight matches, the Mean Green fell to #1 Rice University in four sets to bow out of the Air Force Reserves Conference USA Championships.
 
North Texas (16-16) fought to keep up with Rice on the afternoon (20-25, 26-24, 20-25, 21-25). Strong performances from sophomore Valerie Valerian, freshman Rhett Robinson, and seniors Jordyn Williams and Karley York could not overcome a vicious Rice (23-6) attack.
 
The Owls finished with a .252 hitting percentage and had three players reach double-digit kills, led by sophomore Nicole Lennon who had 22 kills to lead all players.

"This team came together at the right time," head coach Andrew Palileo said. "We came up a little short, but not without the fight we've showed over the last several weeks. Proud of the way we used the adversity this season to show our family culture."
 
Valerian finished with 19 kills and 11 digs while Robinson checked in with 12 kills. Williams had 10 kills of her own while York provided 44 assists and 13 digs. Junior Olivia Petnicki provided 11 digs.  
 
North Texas led early thanks to a strong start from Valerian who notched back-to-back aces to put North Texas up 10-8 in set one. Rice won eight of the next 10 points to open a 17-12 lead before the two sides would exchange points back and forth. Rice eventually won on a service ace freshman Anota Adekunle.
 
Set two looked a lot like what this match was – the best regular season team in C-USA facing off with the hottest team in C-USA coming into the tournament. The two sides traded points throughout the entire frame, with neither team getting more than three in a row. Tied 20-20, each side took turns holding the lead. Rice took a 24-23 lead before North Texas flipped it into a 25-24 advantage.

The Owls called a timeout, and out of the break committed the fatal error to let North Texas even things on games 1-1. Rice took set three in a similar fashion and same score as the first set. Jumping into set four the Mean Green shot out to a 5-1 lead before the Owls were forced to take a timeout to reset things.
 
It helped, as Rice took five of the next six points to tie the set at 6-6. A North Texas timeout came shortly after before Rice took control for a stretch. Rice was leading 19-11 before the Mean Green rattled off eight of the next 10 points to pull within 21-19. The Owls would control the final points to win the set and the match.
 
North Texas exits the C-USA tournament a round short of last year's performance. It is the second year in a row that the regular season C-USA champion will feature in the championship final.