DENTON, Texas - A 7-0 run by North Texas midway through game five carried the host Mean Green to a 3-2 victory over Abilene Christian volleyball Saturday afternoon during the second day of competition at the North Texas Invitational.
The Wildcats fell to 0-9 following their five-set loss (25-18, 21-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-9) and they'll play again later today against Boise State at approximately 4:30 p.m.
North Texas evened its season record at 5-5 with the victory led by an offense that hit .305 and a defense that blocked 13.0 shots.
Carnae Dillard led the Mean Green with 23.0 points and recorded five of her game-high 21 kills in the decisive fifth game. Also reaching double figures in scoring for North Texas were Chelsea Abii (13.0), Holly Milam (13.0), Alexis Wright (13.0) and Amanda Chamberlain (11.0).
Milam hit .333 and was part of seven blocks (one solo), while Wright ripped 10 kills, hit .304, and was credited with six block assists.
For the Wildcats, freshman
Lauren Walker had another strong game offensively by hitting .619 with 14 kills on 21 attempts (one error) to finish with 15.5 points. Senior Jennie Loerch added 19 kills and first-year
Jacey Smith registered 11.
Setter
Sarah Siemens reached 11.0 points thanks to seven kills and four block assists. She also recorded the seventh 50+ assist match of her career. Libero
Madison Hoover meanwhile posted the sixth-highest dig total of her four-year career with 28.
Loerch recorded eight of her 19 kills and hit .467 in game four, which helped Wildcats reach their first fifth set of the season. Early on in game five there were several tie scores after ACU took the initial lead, but after a kill by Smith knotted the score at 6-6 the Mean Green took off on a sizable run from which the Wildcats would not recover.
North Texas delivered three consecutive kills to go up 9-6 and then a block from Milam and Wright was followed by a Karley York ace. The Mean Green reached match point several possessions later on Milam's second kill of the set and then Wright hammered in the game-winner.
ACU hit a respectable .304 in the final game, but North Texas finished at .391 with only two attacking errors counted among its 23 attempts.
North Texas also hit the ball quite well in their even-set defeats. The Mean Green had no attacking errors and hit .464 in their 25-21 loss in game two, and in game four's 25-22 defeat they outhit the Wildcats, .281 to .250.
After having its streak of 20-point sets stopped at 10 in the first game, the Wildcats rallied to win game two behind the efforts of Walker, who finished with eight kills on nine attempts (.778). Walker recorded four-straight points to give her side a 22-19 lead and then her classmate
Kendall Bosse finished matters with a game-winning ace.
North Texas led most of the way in the third game but by never by more than four points. And then after the home team went ahead at 21-17, the Wildcats countered with three-straight points from Walker (one kills and two blocks). Unfortunately, ACU would not be able to tie the score down the stretch and left the court down 2-1 after Loerch had a shot blocked by Wright and Milam.
