Manny Flores Box Score 3 North Texas UNT 5-11; 1-0 C-USA 2 Louisiana Tech TECH 5-10; 0-1 C-USA Set Scores Team 1 2 3 4 5 F North Texas UNT 29 21 18 25 15 (3) Louisiana Tech TECH 27 25 25 16 6 (2) Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | 9/21/2018 10:20:00 PM UNT Tops LA Tech 3-2 In C-USA Opener RUSTON, La. - Three players recorded career-highs in kills as North Texas volleyball opened Conference USA play with a 3-2 (29-27, 21-25, 18-25, 25-16, 15-6) win over Louisiana Tech on Friday night. "We showed some resiliency and a little bit of character tonight," head coach Andrew Palileo said. "We stayed in the match long enough to turn it around. There were some great individual performances." Sophomore Valerie Valerian highlighted the milestone-filled night with 29 kills, the most by a Mean Green player since Carnae Dillard tallied 31 against UTEP on October 29, 2015. "Putting in the hard work and seeing it pay off makes me really proud," Valerian said. "She's an amazing player and I've always looked up to her." Valerian opened the decisive fifth set with her 24th kill, and North Texas (5-11, 1-0 C-USA) never looked back as her six kills in the set helped the Mean Green run away with the match. "I really felt like my heart was in the game," Valerian said. "I wanted to put our team up for success. We had a fresh start going in and now we can build off of a win." Senior Jordyn Williams compiled career bests in both kills (16) and blocks (10), and freshman Yasmin de Lara posted career highs in kills (11) and digs (nine). Freshman Kasey Bortnem, making her first appearance as libero, tied Valerian for the team lead with a career-high 18 digs. "Kasey did a good job in her debut at libero," Palileo said. "She gave us some great libero numbers and played well." North Texas tallied seven blocks in the opening frame, led by five from Williams, who teamed up with freshman Rhett Robinson for back-to-back stops for the final two points. After her third block tied it up at 20-20, the set saw six tie scores and three lead changes before the Mean Green pulled away. "Our gameplan worked out with isolating certain hitters and taking off and solo-blocking on certain hitters," Williams said. "It was the first game in conference, and we wanted to get after it." "We've been working on closing the block and being a little more physical at the net," Palileo said. "You saw some of that work pay off tonight." LA Tech (5-10, 0-1 C-USA), who had won two sets total in the schools' previous nine meetings, took sets two and three to put UNT on the brink of snapping a 13-match conference win streak. "We weren't going to lose," Valerian said. "We were going to push hard for each other." "I asked them to match LA Tech's energy," Palileo said. "They always play us hard on their homecourt. I knew if we matched their energy, we would be successful." UP NEXT North Texas returns to the Lone Star State to face UTSA at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Convocation Center, one of just two Conference USA venues in which Palileo hasn't won. QUICK HITTERS - Karley York became the sixth Mean Green setter to reach 3,000 assists (3,018). - UNT's 17.5 blocks are the most in a match since Nov. 22, 2013 against Marshall (18). - Freshman Kylie Brown finished with a career-high 12 digs. Print Friendly Version