North Texas vs. Northwestern St. Box Score
Aug. 29, 2014
DENTON- The Mean Green volleyball team opened up the North Texas Invitational by outlasting Northwestern State in a five set win (3-2) Friday night at the North Texas Volleyball Center.
North Texas, with nine freshmen, entered tonight's season opener poised to lean heavily on its veteran returners to lead the way.
Carnae Dillard, the team's kills leader in 2013, recorded a double-double in the match with 30 kill, 15 dig performance, just nearly missing a career high (31 kills). Dillard also finished the 2013 season with the second most digs.
Amy Henard, the lone sophomore on the team, started the 2014 campaign right where she left off last year. Henard's had a monster performance with 47 assists to jump start the offensive production. With 10 digs on the defensive side of the ball, she also recorded her 9th career double-double. In their first career collegiate volleyball match, freshmen
Holly Milam and
Meredith Bramer made immediate impacts for the Mean Green. Bramer boasted an 11 dig performance while Milam tallied 11 kills, both good for second most to Dillard's stat line.
For most of first set, the Mean Green led a tightly contested duel. Four unanswered points late in the set allowed North Texas to pull away. Dillard emphatically drove home the final point of the set with an aggressive kill, wrapping it up 25-22.
Northwestern State jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the second set and never looked back. The Mean Green pulled within one at 18-19 after a kill from Henard, however the lead proved to be insurmountable. The Lady Demons proceeded to rattle off six straight points, mostly due in part to four straight attack errors from North Texas, and even the match 1-1.
Set number three, easily the most exciting of the night, had fans out of their seats and on their feet in the North Texas Volleyball Center. The Mean Green and Lady Demons, locked in a battle, traded set points back and forth. Neither team looked to give in on this set, as lengthy rally after rally went by. Fatigue eventually set in for Northeastern State as back to back kills from Dillard and senior
Hanna Forst took the set for North Texas at 33-31.
After losing momentum in a fourth set heavily controlled by the Northwestern (25-20), the Mean Green bounced right back. Six kills by Dillard in the fifth and deciding set (15-12) were enough to seal the match victory for North Texas.
The Mean Green (1-0) look for continued success in their second match of the North Texas Invitational tomorrow against Mississippi Valley State (0-1) at 11 a.m. in the North Texas Volleyball Center.
Around the North Texas Invitational
- #15 Missouri (1-0) opened up the tournament by making quick work of the outmatched Mississippi Valley State (0-1) squad in a three set sweep (25-7, 25-11, 25-17). Missouri vs. MVSU Box Score
- Missouri is slated to open up play on Saturday with a match against Northwestern State (0-1) at 1 p.m. in the North Texas Volleyball Center.
- NT's Amy Henard leads all setters with 47 total assists, with two players Natalie Jaeger and Emily Johnson (both of Northwestern State) tied for second with 22.
- Northwestern's Keelie Arneson leads the tournament field with 35 digs; Carnae Dillard of North Texas with the second most at 15.
- Mean Green leader Dillard stands out with 30 kills; Northwestern's Lauren Agan at second most with 16.
- Mizzou showed a high efficiency style of play on Friday with a .468 attack percentage.
