DENTON - The North Texas volleyball team will be back in action from its home venue in matches against UTEP and Southern Miss on October 29 and 30, respectively. The Mean Green is set to face the Miners on Thursday at 5 p.m. and will take on the Golden Eagles Friday night at 7 p.m.

The volleyball team enters Thursday’s contest with a three-match losing streak, a run that the team hopes to nullify in two matches on its home court. That streak dropped the Mean Green to 14-11 overall with a 6-4 record in Conference USA play following a 3-0 road loss to a lower-ranked Charlotte squad on Sunday.

On the season, five Mean Green players have tallied 140 or more kills. The far-and-away leader in this category is senior outside hitter Carnae Dillard who - with 519 kills this season and 2,159 in her career - sits just 53 kills shy of the program’s all-time record. Dillard’s 5.35 kills per set is complemented by efficient hitting from sophomores Holly Milam (2.00 k/s, .270) and Amanda Chamberlain (1.90 k/s, .338). Junior Amy Henard facilitates the offense with her 9.70 assists per set, while Dillard leads the team with 2.94 digs per set and Milam pitches in a team-high 76 blocks.

As a group, North Texas averages 13.36 kills per set on .240 hitting, going along with 12.62 assists and 14.23 digs.

A Look at UTEP
Thursday’s matchup with be the second meeting of the season between the Mean Green and the Miners of UTEP. North Texas visited El Paso on September 25 and was able to come away with a 3-0 sweep in that showdown.

UTEP currently sits at 7-18 overall with a 1-9 record in league play. The team’s sole C-USA win came against Middle Tennessee in four sets.

The duo of Coline Coessens and Talia Jones leads the Miner attack offensively, averaging 3.22 and 2.67 kills per set, respectively. Setter Lindsey Larson runs the show with her 8.68 assists per set, and she also leads the team with 26 service aces on the season. At the net, freshman Kylie Baumgartner averages 1.15 blocks per set, good for second place in C-USA.

With an all-time series record of 7-7, the winner of Thursday night’s match will take the advantage in this series that dates back to 1981.

Scouting Southern Miss
Southern Miss has had a strong season to this point. At 21-7 overall, the Golden Eagles have the second-most wins in C-USA and has an 8-3 record in league play that places the team at third in the conference standings. 

Stephany Purdue leads the Eagles with a 3.93 kills per set average, followed by Kylie Grandy’s 2.35 average. Setter Sarah Bell has been the primary setter this season, averaging 9.81 assists per set. Libero Mary Pursell has a team-high 4.70 digs per set while Elise Ames’s 1.14 blocks per set average is third in C-USA.

The Mean Green will look to tie the all-time record between these two teams in Friday’s contest. Southern Miss currently holds the 4-3 advantage in the series.

Noteworthy
• Dillard would need to average 26.5 kills in each of this week’s two matches to break the Mean Green kills record in front of home fans.
• In the September meeting between NT and UTEP, Dillard powered down 25 kills in just three sets of play, setting a three-frame best in C-USA.
• Friday's match is sure to feature some added emotion as Southern Miss will be seeking revenge for an early exit in last season's conference tournament. NT picked up a 3-1 victory to advance to the C-USA semifinal on November 21.
• North Texas tumbled down the RPI rankings after last weekend, falling from the No. 97 spot to its current standing at 106. UTEP comes in at No. 208 while Southern Miss is ranked at No. 117.
• Sophomore Amanda Chamberlain is hitting .338 on the season. That's good for seventh in C-USA and third in team history for an individual season.

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