North Texas Daily

The volleyball squad came up short in their second game against University of Texas at El Paso on Monday, falling by a score of 3-2. Head coach Andrew Palileo was not available for comment after the match.

The stats were comparable to last game’s, but the Miners committed fewer errors this time around. UTEP tallied 34 errors as opposed to last game’s 41 — North Texas finished with 22.

It was once again a battle of right outside hitters, with UTEP’s senior outside hitter Cheyanne Jones putting up 17 kills and four errors on 33 attempts with a block as well. North Texas’ Rhett Robinson had 24 kills and nine errors on 65 attempts and tacked on five digs and three blocks too.

Barbara Martin put up several points in a row, this time in the third, to help put North Texas in position to win a tight 28-26 set. She finished with 11 kills and three errors on 38 attempts with two aces and 16 blocks.

The third set also featured tensions between both Palileo and Miners head coach Ben Wallis. Palileo challenged a ruling on the court, to which Wallis told him to let them play. Palileo fired back with words of his own before it was ruled that UTEP won the challenge.

Another storyline to follow is the injury to junior libero Hula Crisostomo. The Hawaiian native went down late in the first set with an apparent leg injury and had to be lifted off the court. This resulted in her being sidelined for the rest of the game.

Freshman defensive specialist Alyssa Sianez stepped in as libero for the rest of the game.

The Miners had 73 total kills compared with the Mean Green’s 54. UTEP also had 171 attacks while North Texas had 146.

Up Next: North Texas will play the Oklahoma Sooners (3-11, Big 12 3-9) on Thursday in Denton at 5 p.m.

Featured Image: Sophomore defensive specialist Aleeyah Galdeira attempts to make a save against UTEP on March 1, 2021. Image by Zachary Thomas