DENTON, Texas (9/25/08) Mistake free volleyball is what Cassie Headrick has been preaching to her North Texas squad heading up to Saturday night’s Sun Belt home opener against Denver. After last week’s results, the Mean Green looks to be headed in that direction.
It appears that NT might be turning the corner in its drive to lower unforced errors, which got the Mean Green into trouble in the first month of the season. In its last four matches, North Texas spotted its opponents 8.86 points per set in unforced errors (which includes attack, serving, blocking and ball handling errors) compared to 10.03 per set in the first eight matches. Headrick believes that her squad can realistically lower that number even more in the coming weeks.
NT committing 1.17 fewer errors per set really has a two-fold effect. First, it means that the opponent must earn those points by beating a stingy Mean Green defense. Secondly, it gives the North Texas offense more opportunities to score. The result showed up on the stats sheet, as North Texas raised its attacks by 32 percent, kills by 8.3 percent, digs by 57 percent and blocks by 14.3 percent.
North Texas returns home this week to open the Sun Belt slate after nine straight road matches. NT last played at home on Aug. 30, and traveled nearly 4,300 miles over that span. The Mean Green is 5-3 in Sun Belt openers, and will host its next five matches at the Mean Green Volleyball Center. The match begins at 7 p.m., and live stats will be available through meangreensports.com.
What To Watch For
Amy Huddleston earned all-tournament team honors for a second straight week, powering the Mean Green with 46 kills on .267 hitting en route to the USM Invite All-Tourney squad. In her last five matches Huddleston has 57 kills on .284 hitting.
Kati Dillard led a potent wall of Mean Green blockers with 17 total blocks (1.21 per set) on the week. Versus Southern Miss and Central Florida Dillard tallied season bests in blocks in back to back matches. She racked up six total blocks versus USM and seven against UCF and now leads the Mean Green with 28 blocks on the year.
As a team, North Texas racked up a .208 attack percentage and posted eight aces to end its seven-match losing streak with a win over McNeese State. The seven match losing streak tied for the fourth longest under ninth year under head coach Cassie Headrick. The school-record futility streak was 17 matches which spanned much of 1998 and the 1999 season opener.
Kayla Saey, a freshman, earned the start at setter against Central Florida and tallied a team season-high 42 assists. Saey is averaging a team-best 9.58 assists per set in six appearances, with Lepmets not far behind at 8.19.
