Mean Green Fall To No. 12 Baylor, 3-1

Tuesday, August 28

Waco, TX

6:00 PM

University of North Texas

3-1

Baylor

4-0

North Texas

Baylor

8/28/2018 9:22:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Season Statistics

WACO – Despite out-blocking No. 12 Baylor 12-5, the North Texas volleyball team fell to the Bears 3-1 (25-17, 21-25, 25-22, 25-18) Tuesday night at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas. In front of her hometown crowd, sophomore Miranda Youmans tied for the team lead with six blocks.

"It was really special," Youmans said. "I felt at home. I was really excited and had to calm my adrenaline down and do my job. I used that adrenaline to carry me on blocking tonight."

"For the most part, our serving gameplan worked really well," head coach Andrew Palileo said. "We put them in situations to set up our block and defend a little bit better than we did last week."

Freshman Rhett Robinson teamed up with Youmans on each of the six blocks and also tied Valerie Valerian for the team lead with 11 kills, finishing with a team-high 14 points.

The Mean Green (3-1) fell in a hole early in the first set, going down 7-0 before scoring a point. While the offense only committed three errors, North Texas finished the set with just six kills at a .103 attack percentage.

"We just had to tell ourselves that we could matchup just as well, if not better," Youmans said. "We just didn't put it all out there."

Frustrated from dropping their first set of the season, the Mean Green rattled off an 8-1 run to take an 11-3 lead in set two. The last of Baylor's (4-0) seven errors in the frame set up match point and Robinson closed out the set to tie the match at one set each. The Bears hit just .071 with 10 kills in set two.

"We were a little shell-shocked after the first set," Palileo said. "We got a little bit tentative. We quit talking. I reminded the girls that when we do things like go on retreats and build those relationships, this is what those moments are for. We communicated more and did a little extra to turn things around."

In set three, which saw 11 tied scores and seven lead changes, North Texas went down 14-10 but went on a 7-2 run after calling a timeout to take a 17-16 lead. Valerian recorded two kills in the streak and Robinson and Youmans assisted on a pair of blocks. Before the game, Palileo addressed long rallies as a concern for the match, but the Mean Green were able to adjust well on the fly and even win some.

"The girls always talk about inspiring each other and I thought we did that in that set," Palileo said. "I was really excited about it and that's how we were able to win some of those."

However, after Valerian's fourth kill of the set put the Mean Green up 22-21, Baylor scored four-straight points to take the set. While North Texas was able to get out to another hot start in set four, leading 14-7 at one point, the Bears closed the set on an 18-4 run to seal the match.

UP NEXT
North Texas remains on the road to participate in the ASICS Classic, hosted by Pepperdine and CSU Northridge Aug. 31-Sept. 2. The Mean Green play CSUN at 8 p.m. Friday in Northridge, Calif., and will face Pepperdine and Idaho in Malibu, Calif., on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

QUICK HITTERS

Valerian extended her streak of matches with double-digit kills to 10.
After allowing Baylor to hit .400 in the first set, North Texas held them to a .160 hit percentage in sets 2-4.
Karley York played her 100^th match in a Mean Green uniform Tuesday.
Shelly Fanning, who entered the match sixth in the nation in hit percentage (.559) was held to just seven kills at a .118 clip.