Friday, September 7
Manhattan, KS
12:00 PM
University of North Texas
at
Kansas State
Volleyball Recalibrates For K-State Invitational
9/6/2018 2:42:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
DENTON – Looking to return to its' winning ways, the North Texas volleyball team travels to Manhattan, Kan., to participate in the K-State Invitational Friday and Saturday. The Mean Green face host Kansas State at noon Friday, followed by a matchup with Nebraska-Omaha at 5:30 p.m.
North Texas wraps up tournament action against Oregon State at 11 a.m. Saturday before returning home to host No. 2 Wisconsin at 1 p.m. Sunday. The Mean Green are 1-2 all-time against Kansas State, last losing to the Wildcats in 2007. UNT swept Oregon State in the schools' first meeting at the 2017 North Texas Challenge, and this weekend will mark the program's first matchup with Omaha and Wisconsin.
Coming off a four-game slate last week, the Mean Green have had just three practices at home over the last two weeks and are preparing to face their second top-15 team in that stretch.
"It's going to be a long weekend, so we're cold-tubbing, hydrating and all that stuff," senior setter Karley York said. "Last weekend was draining mentally, so we're just trying to get back to winning and positivity so we can come in and compete with Wisconsin."
"I scheduled this on purpose," head coach Andrew Palileo said. "I wanted to challenge them a little bit. We want our program to play the best teams."
Despite competing in almost every set, UNT lost all three Asics Classic contests this past weekend, extending its losing streak to four matches, the longest since 2011.
York, the team captain who was on both the 2016 team that lost six of eight matches to begin the year and the 2017 team that lost four matches all year, is using her experiences to hold the team together in the slump.
"We talked a lot this weekend about how we got out of that in 2016 and how the freshman last year never had a slump like this," York said. "We let them know that these slumps happen. Last year, we got lucky. We're hoping last weekend was more of a learning experience."
"Being a returner with that winning mentality, it puts more fire underneath us and gives us more of a reason to compete," sophomore outside hitter Valerie Valerian said. "If we remember those moments from last year, it'll help us bring that competitiveness to the court."
The unanimous aspect that the team had to focus on this week was defense after allowing just over 14 kills per set last weekend.
"We were playing individual defense and making our own small errors," Valerian said. "Our focus this week was to come together as a team and work on team defense."
"We went back to the basics this week to get a good grasp on what we're doing," Palileo said. "I think we were a little frazzled and got lost in some spots. Hopefully our players have toughened up a little bit."
The injury bug struck a couple of Mean Green student-athletes in their California trip as outside hitter Barbara Teakell and middle blocker Miranda Youmans missed the final match of the weekend. However, freshman outside hitter Yasmin de Lara and senior middle blocker Jordyn Williams stepped up into those roles and combined for 18 kills and three blocks. With those injured players likely to sit this weekend, the team had to adjust to having some new players in the starting lineup.
"That's why we had to take a step back," Palileo said. "We had to get them in the system a little more. They know the system overall, but there's those nuances that the system creates. When you don't play a lot, those are hard to figure out."
Despite the toll that the tough stretch is taking on the team, North Texas is confident that it will pay off when the team enters Conference USA play in two weeks.
Fans can watch Friday's match against Kansas State on K-StateHD.tv and Saturday's match against Oregon State will be streamed live from the Beavers' Twitter account.
For the first time, single-game tickets are available for home matches at the North Texas Volleyball Center. Visit the Mean Green Ticket Office page to purchase tickets. Single-game tickets are $8. Sunday's showdown with Wisconsin can also be seen on Conference USA TV.
North Texas wraps up tournament action against Oregon State at 11 a.m. Saturday before returning home to host No. 2 Wisconsin at 1 p.m. Sunday. The Mean Green are 1-2 all-time against Kansas State, last losing to the Wildcats in 2007. UNT swept Oregon State in the schools' first meeting at the 2017 North Texas Challenge, and this weekend will mark the program's first matchup with Omaha and Wisconsin.
Coming off a four-game slate last week, the Mean Green have had just three practices at home over the last two weeks and are preparing to face their second top-15 team in that stretch.
"It's going to be a long weekend, so we're cold-tubbing, hydrating and all that stuff," senior setter Karley York said. "Last weekend was draining mentally, so we're just trying to get back to winning and positivity so we can come in and compete with Wisconsin."
"I scheduled this on purpose," head coach Andrew Palileo said. "I wanted to challenge them a little bit. We want our program to play the best teams."
Despite competing in almost every set, UNT lost all three Asics Classic contests this past weekend, extending its losing streak to four matches, the longest since 2011.
York, the team captain who was on both the 2016 team that lost six of eight matches to begin the year and the 2017 team that lost four matches all year, is using her experiences to hold the team together in the slump.
"We talked a lot this weekend about how we got out of that in 2016 and how the freshman last year never had a slump like this," York said. "We let them know that these slumps happen. Last year, we got lucky. We're hoping last weekend was more of a learning experience."
"Being a returner with that winning mentality, it puts more fire underneath us and gives us more of a reason to compete," sophomore outside hitter Valerie Valerian said. "If we remember those moments from last year, it'll help us bring that competitiveness to the court."
The unanimous aspect that the team had to focus on this week was defense after allowing just over 14 kills per set last weekend.
"We were playing individual defense and making our own small errors," Valerian said. "Our focus this week was to come together as a team and work on team defense."
"We went back to the basics this week to get a good grasp on what we're doing," Palileo said. "I think we were a little frazzled and got lost in some spots. Hopefully our players have toughened up a little bit."
The injury bug struck a couple of Mean Green student-athletes in their California trip as outside hitter Barbara Teakell and middle blocker Miranda Youmans missed the final match of the weekend. However, freshman outside hitter Yasmin de Lara and senior middle blocker Jordyn Williams stepped up into those roles and combined for 18 kills and three blocks. With those injured players likely to sit this weekend, the team had to adjust to having some new players in the starting lineup.
"That's why we had to take a step back," Palileo said. "We had to get them in the system a little more. They know the system overall, but there's those nuances that the system creates. When you don't play a lot, those are hard to figure out."
Despite the toll that the tough stretch is taking on the team, North Texas is confident that it will pay off when the team enters Conference USA play in two weeks.
Fans can watch Friday's match against Kansas State on K-StateHD.tv and Saturday's match against Oregon State will be streamed live from the Beavers' Twitter account.
For the first time, single-game tickets are available for home matches at the North Texas Volleyball Center. Visit the Mean Green Ticket Office page to purchase tickets. Single-game tickets are $8. Sunday's showdown with Wisconsin can also be seen on Conference USA TV.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Volleyball
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/ Women's Volleyball
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/ Women's Volleyball
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/ Women's Volleyball
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/ Women's Volleyball
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