University of North Texas Athletics
Mean Green Set For Important Conference Weekend
10/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
DENTON (10/12/06) The North Texas volleyball team begins an important stretch of Sun Belt play with three home matches in three days beginning Friday, each against Sun Belt Western Division opponents.
The Mean Green (12-10, 3-3) will host Louisiana-Lafayette Friday, Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday, and finally division-leading
“This is a brutal stretch of our schedule that we are in right now,” head coach Cassie Headrick said. “But it is also a great opportunity for us to make up some ground.”
Headrick saw her squad drop two of three matches last week, including a split on the road against Florida International and Florida Atlantic; however the Mean Green were able to take several positives out of the week.
Junior libero, Jessica Hulsebosch was named Sun Belt Defensive player of the week for the second time this season after posting 76 digs in three matches (6.9 dpg). Brittney Gregory also posted the first triple-double for
Hulsebosch and Gregory are not the only weapons that the Mean Green will bring to the table. Brooke Engel still leads the nation in total aces (67) and is averaging 1.18 aces per game in Sun Belt play alone.
Outside hitter Katy Prokof is leading the team in kills with 242 and Tara Hooser has hit a dozen or more kills in three of her last four matches at home.
The Ragin Cajuns (6-13, 3-5) will come to Denton for the beginning a six-match road swing, and without having registered a win over the Mean Green in their last seven contests dating back to 2001. They seemed to be finding a groove after picking up sweeps over South Alabama and
They are paced by senior middle blocker, Kim Rodgers who ranks ninth in the Sun Belt with a .311 hitting percentage. Jamie Sinegal will bring one of the conference’s top serves to the court after posting a career-high eight aces againt
Saturday will mark the first time North Texas has played UL-M since 1999 and the return of former North Texas assistant John Schmidt to
Aces are the theme for Schmidt’s squad as they are ranked fifth in the nation in aces per game (2.47apg) and place three players Nicole Shaferkotter, Mari O’Neal, and Meagan Osborne in the top 10 in the Sun Belt.
Hurricane Katrina did not seem to phase the
The Privateers have won five in a row since a five-game loss to FAU on October 24.
Senior libero, Jayne Duncan holds the school record for digs with 640 in 2004 and currently ranks third in the Sun Belt in that category. Hillary Carr ranks second in blocks (1.25 bpg), and Dobrila Kovacevic ranks in the top 10 in kills and aces.
The Mean Green is 7-3 against UNO under Cassie Headrick, including a 4-1 record in
The matches versus UL-L and UL-M each begin at 7 p.m while the UNO match is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.
All matches will be played at the
