Volleyball Ready For C-USA Championships

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Riding a seven-match win streak, the North Texas Volleyball team begins its quest for a Conference-USA Tournament title Friday.

Just one year removed from being the tournament's top-seed and falling to Western Kentucky in the championship match, the Mean Green go into Friday's matchup with No. 4 Florida Atlantic (21-6, 11-3 C-USA) as the No. 5 seed. North Texas' match will be the second of day one, set for 1 p.m. from the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington, West Virginia on the campus of Marshall University.

The Mean Green (15-15, 11-3 C-USA) fell to FAU in the only previous matchup this season in October. The match was sophomore Barbara Teakell's first after a month long absence due to injury. The Celina native was dominant, posting 16 kills while hitting at a .256 clip while also notching 11 digs and a pair of blocks.

After the sweep of Southern Miss to close the regular season Saturday, Teakell was ready to shift her focus to the tournament with the improvement North Texas had found.

"We've found our moments," Teakell said after the match Saturday. "Everyone knows their roles. We don't doubt our abilities. We have been keeping things positive and just playing our game."

The Owls won in four sets (21-25, 25-21, 23-25, 27-29), the fourth set was hard fought with FAU claiming a 24-21 lead to draw match point. The Mean Green would battle back to take a 25-24 advantage before FAU closed out the match 29-27.

"Both our teams are playing well," head coach Andrew Palileo said. "It should be a fun match to be a part of. I think we are going in [to the tournament] with everything coming together. I think everybody is in a good mind set."

North Texas has found its groove since the loss to FAU took their season record to 6-14 and 2-3 in conference play. The Mean Green have gone 9-1 since the October meeting with the Owls and have claimed six sweeps during the stretch, while also riding their seven-match win streak. North Texas also picked up five all-conference selections as part of the surge.

With a win Friday, North Texas would face the winner of No. 1 Rice and No. 8 Charlotte at 11 a.m. Saturday in the semifinals. No. 2 seed Western Kentucky takes on No. 7 Southern Miss in the first round, with the winner advancing to a semifinals matchup with the winner of No. 3 UTSA and No. 6 FIU at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. The Conference Championship match is set for 11 a.m. Sunday.

North Texas beat Charlotte earlier in the season in five sets (20-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-16, 15-10) and fell to Rice in straight sets (17-25, 21-25, 24-26). If the Mean Green can make it to their second-straight Conference Tournament Championship match, they have a 4-1 record against the four teams on the other end of the bracket.

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