Volleyball gets back on track with sweep of Florida International
After falling in its conference opener, North Texas dominated in their second game of Conference USA play while sweeping Florida International University (1-6, 0-1) in straight sets Sunday in Miami, FL.
The Mean Green (13-2, 1-1) came out strong in the first set, only allowing Florida International to score 16 points. The second set mirrored the first with a final score of 25-16. The third set was a little bit more of a battle, but again, nothing the Mean Green couldn’t handle. The team held on for a 25-19 win.
“I think today we just jumped out on the opponent,” senior middle blocker Amanda Chamberlain said. “Friday [against Southern Mississippi] we seemed to find ourselves playing catch up a lot, even though it worked in those two sets playing from behind is always a hard task.”
Senior middle blocker Holly Milam lead the team with 11 kills, 5 digs, and 3 blocks. Sophomore middle blocker, Emma Eakin, followed closely behind with 8 kills, 2 digs, and 2 blocks.
“We just focused on staying disciplined on our side of the court,” Milam said. “We did a good job of keeping them out of system which made it easier for the blockers and for our defense to line up behind our blockers.”
After the Mean Green jumped all over FIU in the early going, the Panthers did everything in their power to extend the game in the the third set. North Texas and FIU went back and forth almost the whole set until the Mean Green regained the lead and kept it, winning the final set and sweeping the Panthers.
“We served tough which made them have to scramble on their offense and we shifted our defense well against all of their lefty’s,” Eakin said.
North Texas may have taken the sweep, but the team isn’t at all comfortable with where it sits two games into C-USA play.
“We have to get better at our block set so we can have an efficient transition game, “head coach, Andrew Palileo, said.
Next up: The Mean Green take on the University of Oklahoma Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Denton.
Featured Image: Mean Green volleyball coach Andrew Palileo talks to the team during a time out. Madison Gore
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