Box Score
DENTON, Texas (9/21/07) Arkansas-Little Rock snagged a 3-1 victory and an early share of the Sun Belt West Division lead by batting past the North Texas volleyball team on Friday (21-30, 30-18, 16-30, 27-30).
Jessica Hulsebosch’s record-tying dig performance wasn’t enough to power the Mean Green (4-11, 0-1) past the stingy defense of UALR (9-4, 1-0). With 23 digs on the night, the senior has now posted at least 20-digs in five consecutive outings, matching her own school-record set last year.
Katy Prokof was on fire all night, and paced North Texas to an early lead in the opening frame. The senior finished with 18 kills on the night, but unforced Mean Green errors and a trio of blocks from UALR’s Ivanka Davidova and Anita Bucur sealed the first game.
Game two was a different story, as Brooke Engel led North Texas to a dominating 30-18 win. Engel landed four straight aces, and NT’s defense limited the Trojans to a -.056 attack percentage in the Mean Green win. Engel, who leads the nation with .96 aces per game, tallied a season-high seven aces.
After a Trojan win in game three, North Texas battled late to challenge for the lead in game four. Led by Prokof, the Mean Green posted a five-point swing to bring the score to 24-26, but the play of UALR’s Amila Barakovic closed the match. Barakovic posted the game sealing kill, one of her 16 in the match.
Heather Maddox made the North Texas effort possible with 50 assists, her second of the year.
The Mean Green returns to action on Sunday at noon to face Arkansas State (3-7, 0-1) at the Mean Green Volleyball Center.
