Volleyball team downs HBU in Tulsa Tournament opener
Clay Massey | Staff Writer
The University of North Texas volleyball team opened its final non-conference tournament of the season with a win in straight sets of Houston Baptist University. It is the Mean Green’s second straight win in straight sets.
Amanda Chamberlain, Holly Milam and Carnae Dillard led the way, combining for 13 of the team’s 15 kills in set one. Dillard would finish with 22 kills on the night, the most for any player from both side. Milam and Chamberlain would finish with eight and six respectively.
“We’re getting better every match,” said associate head coach Vinh Nguyen. “The girls look real consistent. They have really stepped up and our blockers are getting in the right place. Our serving is on point.”
North Texas jumped out front quickly in the first set, going up 11-6 before Houston Baptist was forced to use a timeout. The stoppage did not halt the momentum of the Mean Green, as an impressive athletic play from Milam forced set point, and the Mean Green executed. It took the first set 25-21.
The Mean Green found itself down 8-6 in set two after giving up four straight points to Houston Baptist, led by Bailey Banks. Milam stepped up again in set two with eight kills, giving her 8.5 points on the night through two sets. Milam’s play combined with Dillard’s led the Mean Green to a dominant set two win by the score of 25-17.
“One of our big goals right now is to relieve Carnae [Dillard],” Milam said. “She’s always gets a lot of balls and we’re trying to be a lot more active trying to get split so that she can score easier when she has the ball. I know me and Amanda [Chamberlain] have been working very hard trying to be up every time.”
Chamberlain notched seven points on the night with six kills. Her hit percentage would sit at .353% on 17 attack attempts through the three sets.
Set three was back and forth between the two teams, but North Texas pulled away late with kills from Dillard and errors by Houston Baptist. Dillard had three kills within the last five points of the match: a service error by HBU and a Chamberlain kill resulted in the final five points.
“Our defense picked up a lot of balls and kept them alive” said Dillard. “There wasn’t really one point I could remember in set three that turned it. Our defense did a good job of giving our offense chances in the third set.”
North Texas returns to action Saturday at 1:00 p.m. when it faces Oral Roberts in the second match of the Tulsa Tournament. The Mean Green then finish up the Tulsa Tournament on Saturday night when they face hosts Tulsa at 7:00 P.M.
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