Volleyball Begins 2026 Season Friday at ACU Invitational

Friday, August 28

Abilene, Texas

5:30 PM CT

University of North Texas

CSU Bakersfield

8/27/2026 5:07:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Notes

DENTON, Texas – The UNT volleyball team opens the 2026 season this weekend with three matches at the ACU Invitational, hosted by Abilene Christian at Moody Coliseum.

North Texas is slated to begin the weekend Friday night at 5:30 p.m. against CSU Bakersfield. It'll then take on a doubleheader Saturday, first facing Lamar at 1 p.m. before battling Abilene Christian at 5 p.m. in the final match of the weekend.

The weekend finale between UNT and ACU will be available for streaming on ESPN+ with Caysson Higgins and Londyn Gray on the call.

ACU Invitational Preview

North Texas and CSU Bakersfield have never met before.
Lamar holds a 16-7 lead in the all-time series, however, North Texas has won back-to-back matches and three of the past four meetings, dating back to 2003.
UNT has claimed wins in eight of 10 matches against Abilene Christian in a series that dates back to 1977. The Mean Green will be looking for revenge after suffering a late-season defeat last year to the Wildcats at the UNT Volleyball Center.
North Texas is entering its second season under head coach Dave Fleming, who led the program to a successful 2025 campaign that saw it win 20+ matches for the first time since 2017 and improve its win total from the prior year by 11 matches.
A victory over CSU Bakersfield on Friday would mark UNT's second straight season winning the season opener and the fourth time in its past five tries. In 2025, North Texas won the first three games of Fleming's tenure for its first 3-0 start to a season since 2018.

Returning Production

North Texas returns five of six starters and its top two liberos from a 2025 squad that won 21 matches and finished fourth in the American Conference standings.
It retained 90.8% of its kills, 88.5% of its blocks and 78.7% of its digs.
Outside hitters Reagan Bedell and Lillian Croshaw are poised for big 2026 campaigns after leading the team with 340 and 304 kills, respectively. Defensively, Bedell's 263 digs ranked third on the team while Croshaw was third among the Mean Green with 73.0 total blocks.
2025 Second Team All-Conference selection Loredana Fouonji leads the middle blockers alongside juniors Addison Achilles and Ryann Vik. Achilles averaged 1.68 kills per set last season and was the team's second-best blocker (85.0 total) while Vik was an American Conference All-Freshman Team honoree back in 2024.
Sophomore liberos Dakota Mitchell (387 digs, most on team) and Alessandra Romo (214 digs) were staples of the Mean Green lineup throughout the 2025 season as sophomore Sidney Soria looks to lock down the setter position in the absence of Alexa Washington. Soria compiled 562 assists last year while appearing in all 30 matches.
In addition, the Mean Green expect to continue receiving meaningful contributions from seniors Jahniya Jackson (2.49 K/S, 55.0 BLK) and Reese Watters (1.17 K/S, 27.0 BLK).

Preseason Praise

Fifth-year middle blocker Loredana Fouonji was named an American Preseason All-Conference honoree. A Second Team performer last season, Fouonji is aiming to become the program's 14th two-time All-Conference recipient ever.
The Mean Green have now collected at least one Preseason All-Conference selection in nine of the last 10 years, including each since it joined the American in 2023.
North Texas was selected sixth in the American Conference Preseason Coaches Poll.