North Texas Daily

The North Texas volleyball team (11-15, 8-3 C-USA) returned home on Sunday, Oct. 28 to take on Marshall (10-15, 3-8 C-USA).

The Mean Green swept the Thundering Herd in three sets (25-21, 25-15, 25-18) to get their third straight conference win.

“We’re starting to string some wins together,” head coach Andrew Palileo said. “We’re starting to get better at the things that allow us to do that. It’s a good conference win and we held our home-floor today.”

Senior middle back Jordyn Williams was a major factor in the match, recording 11 kills – tied for the most between both teams.

“It seemed to get easier as the day went on, I was able to find the holes in the defense,” Williams said. “Valerie did a very good job of digging the balls so I could get my shots.”

Sophomore outside hitter Valerie Valerian – also tied for the most kills on the team with 11 – leads the team in total digs on the season.

“We were having good passes up and Karley putting the ball right [where] I was able to attack,” Valerian said. “Right now, we just have a good energy and good chemistry going [into] every game.”

North Texas now sits at No. 4 in Conference USA and hope to keep this run going as they enter the final stretch of the season. They must piece together some wins to have a realistic chance to compete for the conference championship.

“Volleyball is a sport of momentum and we just got to keep it on our side,” Valerian said. “We have to focus on keeping that culture and keeping that energy.”

Palileo believes there are still improvements to be made with this team with only four matches remaining.

“We’ve got to continue to play better, and we have to continue to defend [well],” Palileo said. “We need to be more physical at the net and clean up some things, and I think we can continue to keep it going.”