Volleyball Travels to Rice, Hosts Temple

HOUSTON – UNT volleyball enters the final two weeks of regular season American Conference play against first-place Rice on Friday at 6 p.m. before hosting Temple on Sunday at noon.

Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+ while fans can purchase tickets to Sunday's home match HERE.

The Mean Green (19-6, 9-3) sit in sole possession of third place in the American Conference, only two matches back from Rice (15-8, 11-1), as it owns an eight-match winning streak in league contests entering Friday. Rice holds an 11-match conference winning streak ahead of the weekend while Temple (15-11, 5-7) is the third-hottest team in the league after winning its past four contests.

"We're in a really good position and I'm really proud of the team," head coach Dave Fleming said. "The fact that we're 19-6 at this point is kind of beyond my wildest dreams but it's also given us confidence that we can compete with the best in the conference and that's Rice so we're really looking forward to this match."

WEEKEND PREVIEW

UNT travels to American Conference preseason favorites Rice (15-8, 11-1) on Friday at 6 p.m. with streaming coverage on ESPN+
Matt Pedersen (PxP) and Tiffany Blevins (analyst) will be on Friday's call
The Mean Green have won three of its past five matches over the Owls, each in Denton
North Texas has not won a road match at Rice since Nov. 7, 2014
The two teams met in three matches last season with each home team collecting a win while the Owls defeated North Texas in the quarterfinals of the American Championship, 3-1, on Nov. 22, 2024
Appearing in the final two meetings of the season against Rice, middle blocker Loredana Fouonji totaled 12 kills on 25 attacks for a .320 hitting percentage with 11 total blocks
Over six career matches against Rice, senior Alexa Washington has tallied 72 assists (3.79 A/S) and 28 digs (1.47 D/S) over 19 sets played
On Sunday, the Mean Green return home to meet Temple (15-11, 5-7) at the UNT Volleyball Center at noon on ESPN+
Kyle Youmans (PxP) and Hek'ma Harrison (analyst) will be on Sunday's call
Meeting in only two previous matches, each in the past two seasons, the home team has won each contest as UNT last defeated Temple on Oct. 27, 2023, in Denton
Middle blockers Ryann Vik and Fouonji are the only returning UNT point scorers from last season's match against Temple as each posted five blocks while Vik added five kills and Fouonji dropped four kills
UNT's freshman trio of libero Dakota Mitchell, defensive specialist Alessandra Romo and setter Sidney Soria have appeared in every set this season, joining Indiana as one of two Division I programs to do so

PREVIOUSLY ON...

The Mean Green extended its conference winning streak to eight matches and clinched a berth in the American Conference Championship tournament with wins over Memphis and UTSA
The eight-match winning streak ties for the third-longest conference winning streak in program history
With wins on Friday and Sunday, UNT would tie for the second-best conference winning streak in program history at 10 matches
The program's last eight-match winning streak in league play was snapped by Rice on Sept. 29, 2019
Sitting at 19-6 on the season, the Mean Green have the second best 25-match record in program history, trailing only the 2017 mark of 23-2
The last time UNT tallied 20 wins in a season was in 2017
With one more win, Dave Fleming would become one of only three UNT head coaches with 20-plus wins in their first season, last accomplished by Ken Murczek in 2010
On Monday, Washington and Fouonji were both named to the weekly American Conference Honorable Mention list
Washington distributed 55 assists (5.00 A/S) while Fouonji dropped 13 total blocks (1.44 BLK/S) and added 18 kills, four digs over three matches
Sophomore Lilly Croshaw led the Mean Green with 35 kills as she reached double-digit kill totals in all three matches
Freshman setter Soria led UNT's 6-2 offense with 56 assists (5.09 A/S) while she added 21 digs and one ace over 11 sets played

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Players Mentioned

Lilly Croshaw

Loredana Fouonji

Dakota Mitchell

Alessandra Romo

Sidney Soria

Ryann Vik

Alexa Washington

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