DENTON, Texas (10/29/07) Apparently the North Texas records for season and career aces weren’t enough for Brooke Engel, who was named the Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for breaking the single-match record on Sunday.
Engel had one of the best serving performances in NCAA history, dropping 12 aces on UALR. The senior is only the sixth woman in NCAA history to record at least a dozen aces in a five-game match. Only one player in Sun Belt history has ever had more aces in a match, making Engel’s outing the best since South Florida’s Belinda Spivey had 14 aces against Temple in 1986.
Engel takes over the North Texas single-match serving record from her former teammate Brittney Gregory, who held the previous mark at 10 aces versus Grambling in 2002. The New Braunfels, Texas native already owned the North Texas season (123 in 2006) and career marks, and now ranks fifth in Sun Belt history with 226 career aces.
Engel now sits in second place in the country with .92 aces per game, just behind Long Island’s Martina Wagner (1.00 a/g) who finished second to Engel in the national service ace race last season.
With four matches remaining in the regular season - three at home in the Mean Green Volleyball Center - North Texas can virtually assure itself a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with two more wins. If the tournament started today, the Mean Green would earn the eighth and final seed with a 6-8 mark in SBC play.
North Texas returns to the Mean Green Volleyball Center on Friday for a trio of weekend matches. NT takes on Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday at 7 p.m., Louisiana at Monroe on Saturday at 7 p.m. and New Orleans on Sunday at 1 p.m.
