MGVB Film Breakdown: Outside Hitters

The North Texas volleyball team enters the 2020 season with high expectations. The Mean Green return 10 lettermen and all six starters from a 2019 squad that finished 17-11 and third in Conference USA. Along with a wealth of experience, UNT welcomes six new members to its program in one of the most talented recruiting classes during head coach Andrew Palileo's seven-year tenure.

If that isn't enough, the 2020 senior class of Valerie Valerian, Barbara Teakell, Miranda Youmans, Kaliegh Skopal and Henrianna Ibarra has the opportunity to make history. If the Mean Green win a conference title this season, the 2020 seniors would be the only class in program history to win two separate conference championships.

As the first serve of the season is nearly one month away, we wanted to break down several clips of last year's film to look at what the Mean Green return at each position in 2020. In this second part of a four-part series, we'll look at the outside hitters.

Only clips of returning players are provided. Incoming freshmen will be included at the bottom of each breakdown.

#17 Valerie Valerian | Senior | OH | 6'1
2019 stats:
MP SP K E TA PCT SA DIG BLK
27 109 465 131 1388 .241 19 350 43

Valerian has racked up just about every accolade in the book during her first three years at North Texas. Here are just several awards in her time at Denton: two-time First Team All-C-USA selection, AVCA All-Southwest honorable mention, 2017 C-USA champion, C-USA All-Academic selection and a member of the 2019 USA Volleyball Collegiate National Team.

A selfless teammate and captain who returns as the Mean Green's most dynamic player in 2020, Valerian wants to be part of the first class in program history to win two conference titles. Even more so, she wants a shot to compete in the NCAA Tournament, something the Mean Green have yet to do.

In addition, Valerian will enter her final season looking to become the second All-American in program history – Carnae Dillard (2015). Her performance on the court speaks for itself, and we're going to take a look back at one of her most underrated plays of the 2019 season.

First, the serve forces Valerian to move inside and pass the ball to Skopal. Because she is already in the middle of the floor, Valerian takes an inside-out approach to hit the ball. After elevating off the floor, she is able to turn her body around the ball, find a hole in the defense and hammer it the opposite way for a point.

With all of the moving parts in this play, Valerian makes this sequence looks easier than it actually is. For the third consecutive season, expect the captain to make a huge impact for North Texas.

#14 Rhett Robinson | Junior | OH | 5'11
2019 stats:
MP SP K E TA PCT SA DIG BLK
21 86 264 110 676 .228 7 70 64

While Valerian led the stat table in 2019, local product Rhett Robinson showed that she was one of the most explosive players on the squad. Robinson is a long and athletic player who can jump out of the gym while owning one of the more powerful swings in Conference USA.

Robinson finished ninth in C-USA in kills (264), despite suffering an injury that sidelined her for 20 days. Her athleticism and potential were recognized this spring, when she was invited to the U.S. National Team Open tryouts from Feb. 21-23 at Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Let's take a look at one of Robinson's final kills from the 2019 season during a win at SMU.

Robinson starts on the front row on the right side of the screen. One reason this play worked so effectively is how Robinson runs a sharp route right behind middle blocker Alysha Johnson.
When the two rub off of each other with sharp routes to the ball, the opposing blockers are forced to pick which side of the net to defend. In the clip above, both opposing blockers get mixed up by Robinson and Johnson, which allows Robinson to take a great angle before exploding off the floor and putting the ball down for a kill.

The 1-2 punch of Valerian and Robinson on the outside should give Palileo and his staff an exciting feeling heading into August.

#7 Barbara Teakell | Senior | OH | 6'1
2019 stats:
MP SP K E TA PCT SA DIG BLK
25 96 248 118 842 .154 16 305 43

Teakell rounds out the starting outside hitters along with Valerian and Robinson. The senior from Celina, Texas, has had quite the volleyball journey. After competing in home school leagues before attending Celina High School, Teakell garnered C-USA Freshman of the Year honors in the 2017 championship season and has become a vital front row player for North Texas.

Teakell has collected 240-plus kills in two of her three seasons in Denton. In the clip below, we look at one of her kills from a win at Louisiana Tech last season.

Teakell is on the left side expecting the set from Skopal to come to her. In this play, Teakell does a great job of accelerating from slow-to-fast in her approach. Then, she is able to elevate, get her hand on the seam and make a strong swing to put the ball in a place where it's almost impossible to dig.

#15 Avery McCrillis | Sophomore | OH | 6'1
2019 stats:
MP SP K E TA PCT SA DIG BLK
12 31 23 15 81 .099 5 29 12

McCrillis spent most of her freshman season acclimating to the speed of the collegiate game while learning from three all-conference outside hitters.

The Rockwall, Texas-native earned more playing time at the end of the year for the Mean Green. She recorded a season high 13 digs at home against UTSA before recording nine kills and hitting an impressive .412 a week later against the Roadrunners in the Conference USA Tournament.

One of those kills in the regular season home match against UTSA is shown below.

McCrillis starts on the right side of the clip. Normally, most outside hitters take a three-step approach before attempting to swing. However, in this scenario, McCrillis doesn't have time to complete an entire three-step approach. Instead, her athleticism allows her to take a quick two-step approach and explode into the air to hit the ball at its highest point.

Expect to see more of this from McCrillis during her second year in Denton, as she began to improve and become acclimated to the speed of the game as the season went on.

#16 Truli Levy | Freshman | OH | 5'10
From last month's freshman breakdown:
The first thing that "jumps" out about Levy is her ability to elevate off the floor. Although she stands at 5'10, Levy was one of the more athletic front row players in the state of Louisiana during 2019. Along with an outstanding vertical, she has a knack for where to put the ball on the floor from the outside hitter position.

In 2019, Levy collected 584 kills, 215 digs, 84 blocks and 56 aces. She was named the District MVP, All-Metro Outstanding Player and was an all-state selection. Levy led East Ascension to a share of the Division I, District 4 title and a berth in the Division I quarterfinals at the Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA Volleyball tournament.

After the season, she played in the LHSCA/LVCA All-Star game to cap off her high school career before being selected as a Star of Stars by The Advocate, which highlights student-athletes around the Baton Rouge community who excel in competition.

#9 Kenzie Smith | Freshman | OH | 6'1
From last month's freshman breakdown:
A tall and athletic force on the front row, Smith's diverse skill set provides the Mean Green with talented, yet much-needed depth in 2020. Smith and Levy will both learn from Mean Green outside hitters Valerie Valerian, Barbara Teakell and Rhett Robinson.

Smith finished her high school career with an astounding 1,291 kills, 1,230 digs and 312 blocks. She was a two-time District MVP during 2018 and 2019 while leading the Lady Bulldogs to a 24-0 league record during that two-year span.

In 2019, Smith was a force to be reckoned with. She hit an impressive .401 with 398 kills, 304 digs and 35 blocks to lead her team to an area-around appearance in the Texas 3A high school playoffs. She was then named to the 2019 TGCA All-State team for her performance as a senior.

Smith also excelled in the classroom, earning Academic All-District honors all four years and was named to the Academic All-State team as a senior. Along with those accolades, Smith was inducted into the National Honor Society as a junior before acting as the NHS treasurer as a senior.

#18 Hallie Thorn | Freshman | OH | 6'4
Horn brings one year of experience to Denton after redshirting at C-USA foe Old Dominion in 2019 – ODU did not participate in NCAA competition, as it was their first season as a program. As the tallest player on the team, Horn looks to use her height to get above the net and create problems for opposing front rows.

Before Old Dominion, Thorn played high school volleyball at nearby Prestonwood Christian Academy in Plano, where she helped her team to a 2018 TAPPS 6A Division title. She also had experience playing for Excel Volleyball Club, where she led the team to a first place finish in the North Texas Invitational 18 Open.

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Players Mentioned

Henrianna Ibarra

Alysha Johnson

Truli Levy

Barbara Martin

Avery McCrillis

Rhett Robinson

Kaliegh Skopal

Kenzie Smith

Hallie Thorn

Valerie Valerian

Miranda Youmans

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