DENTON (10/5/03) -- Corina Marginas tallied 26 kills to lead four North Texas players with double-figure kills in a 3-1 (28-30, 30-27, 30-26, 30-21) victory over Denver (12-6, 3-1) Sunday afternoon at the Snake Pit in a Sun Belt Conference volleyball match.
The Mean Green snapped a two-match skid, while improving to 12-10 overall and 3-1 in Sun Belt play. North Texas handed Denver its first conference loss of the season, putting the two teams in a tie for second place in the West Division. New Mexico State defeated Louisiana-Lafayette on Sunday and leads the division with a perfect 4-0 record.
Marginas paced the Mean Green attack, finishing with 26 kills, a .488 attack percentage and 16 digs, all match highs. As a team, the Mean Green hit .396, smashed 80 kills, dished out 71 assists, collected 64 digs and blocked five Denver attacks. Denver recorded 63 kills, 55 assists, 47 digs, six blocks and hit .285.
The Pioneers picked up its only victory in the first game, but North Texas rebounded to sweep the next three games and post its fifth victory when trailing after one game. With the score tied 19-19, Denver went on a 6-3 run and held at least a one-point advantage the rest of the game.
The second game was tight as well, but North Texas scored four of the game's last five points to break a 26-26 tie and pick up the win. With the score tied 8-8 in the second game, the Mean Green took the lead and didn't relinquish it the rest of the way. North Texas ran away with the final game, winning by nine points and hitting .308 in comparison to Denver's .179.
Kristin Sheppard posted a double-double with a match-high 63 assists and 10 digs. Brittney Gregory recorded 17 kills, Jill Ruskowski 14 and Anne Pope 12 to follow Marginas in double-digit kills. All four of those players hit at least .308. Gregory played tough at the net as well, collecting a team-high four block assists.
North Texas now turns it attention to New Orleans and South Alabama in two Sun Belt Conference road matches, set for Oct. 10 and Oct. 12, respectively.
