University of North Texas Athletics
Mean Green Volleyball Wins Conference Opener Over MTSU, 3-1
9/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
DENTON (9/26/03) -- Four North Texas players recorded double-figure kills to lead the Mean Green volleyball team (10-8, 1-0) past Middle Tennessee (7-9, 0-1) 3-1 (30-24, 27-30, 30-22, 32-30) Friday night at the Snake Pit in its first Sun Belt Conference match of the season.
Corina Marginas tallied a team-high 19 kills and 16 digs to pace the North Texas attack. The Mean Green hit .189 in comparison to the Lady Raiders .130 and piled up 67 kills, 13 more than Middle Tennessee. North Texas also topped MTSU in assists and digs with 62 and 82, respectively.
"We came into this match focused," said North Texas head coach Cassie Headrick. "Our players were excited to start conference play and excited to be home. Our goal is to get to the conference tournament, so every match is important and this team knows that."
North Texas posted its best hitting percentage in game one at .389. With the score tied 15-15, the Mean Green went on a 5-0 run and didn’t relinquish the lead the remainder of the game. Despite hitting just .023 in the second game, NT had the scored tied at 26-26 before the Lady Raiders scored three of the last four points to claim its only win. Marginas and Anne Pope, who recorded a season-high 15 kills for the entire match, each had five kills in game three as North Texas rolled to an eight-point victory. The Mean Green recorded four of its 10 blocks in the final game, which saw North Texas rally from a 29-30 score for the win.
Along with Marginas, Jill Ruskowski and Kristin Sheppard each posted a double-double. Ruskowski finished with 12 kills and 14 digs, while Sheppard recorded a match-high 50 assists and 17 digs. Sheppard narrowly missed her second triple-double of the season with eight kills as well. Middle blocker Brittney Gregory recorded 12 kills and a team-best three block solos.
"Obviously, Kristin did a nice job tonight," said Headrick. "As the game went on, our players saw that they could have some success in the middle of the court and did a good job adjusting."
North Texas snapped a two-match skid with the victory and improved to 4-1 at home this year. The Mean Green opened Sun Belt Conference play with a victory for the third consecutive season.
KeKe Deckard led the Lady Raiders with 23 kills and 15 digs. Karisse Baker was the only other Middle Tennessee player to post double-figure kills, finishing with 10.
North Texas now returns to the road for a 1 p.m. match on Sunday at Louisiana-Lafayette. The Mean Green was the only team to pin Louisiana-Lafayette with a home loss all of last season.
