Volleyball splits matches Saturday, York and Chamberlain lead the charge
After winning on opening night in the first match of the North Texas Invitational, the Mean Green managed a split in two contrasting matches on Saturday.
The first of which was a three sets to one loss to Texas Tech, followed by a straight sets win against Montana. In their first weekend of matches, North Texas (2-1) satisfied head coach Andrew Palileo.
“Anytime you can get away with two wins and one really scrappy match, there’s a lot we can take away positively,” Palileo said. “But we also have a lot of things that we can continue to progress.”
One of those positives was senior middle Amanda Chamberlain, who posted 30 kills in the two matches on Saturday with a kill percentage of .429 and .667.
Chamberlain and junior setter Karley York were clicking as both neared their personal highs in kills and assists respectively.
“[Chamberlain] is in a position now where the game has slowed down for her,” Palileo said. “The game’s not fast for her anymore, she’s gone through a lot of training, so she’s doing what she’s supposed to do.”
North Texas 1, Texas Tech 3
In the early morning match for the Mean Green, they faced the Red Raiders of Texas Tech in a thrown together match due to Texas Tech withdrawing from a tournament in Houston.
The Red Raiders (1-0) defeated the Mean Green 25-20, 25-16, 22-25, 25-22 after pouncing on them early in the first two sets and surviving a scare in the fourth set. Despite big games from their captain, York, and Chamberlain, North Texas had trouble attacking Texas Tech’s defense.
“Their main thing was they kept the ball alive,” York said. “Which made us try to hit different shots, hit around their blocks and we haven’t been faced with that yet so it was something different we weren’t used to.”
Freshman middle blocker Miranda Youmans also had a standout performance in her debut as she tallied 11 kills with a .391 kill percentage. She was inserted largely because of the loss of junior middle blocker Jordyn Williams who was hit in the eye during Friday’s match. Palileo said it was just precaution to keep her out of the two matches.
Regardless, Youmans stepped up for Palileo against a Big 12 opponent.
“[My teammates] were just giving me confidence all the time,” Youmans said. “Karley told me to be up all the time and she was getting me the ball and I was just putting my best effort on the court.”
North Texas 3, Montana 0
In the final match of the North Texas Invitational, the Mean Green defeated Montana in straight sets, 25-18, 25-18, 25-16. The Grizzlies (2-1) were in the midst of a back to back and North Texas was sure to exhaust them even more.
Unlike in Friday’s match when North Texas conceded a set to Tulsa after being up 2-0 in sets, the Mean Green sealed the deal with ease on Saturday.
“I think we were a little more focused,” Palileo said. “We talked about it after the Tulsa match, so we were able to serve well enough for them to be out of system a little bit. Our service line pressure helped us a lot.”
Junior setter Alex Janak tied her personal high in aces with three all in the first set and allowed the blockers to get to the net and dictate the points there. The win ended the inaugural weekend of the season on a high note for the players and coaches, and their offense really stuck out as a strong point.
“I would say our offense [was impressive],” Janak said. “I think our team this year is really good offensively, so I think that was a really big thing [for us] especially in this tournament.”
Featured image: Members of the Mean Green Volleyball team celebrate after winning a set against Texas Tech on Aug. 25. The Mean Green fell to Texas Tech 3-1. Sara Carpenter
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