DENTON – The University of North Texas came back from being down two sets to beat the East Texas A&M University volleyball team 3-2 on Saturday at the UNT Volleyball Center. The Lions won the first two sets 25-20 and 25-22, but the Mean Green took the final three 18-25, 10-25 and 9-15.
The Lions started the opening set with an
Ariana Brown (Conroe) kill and back-to-back
Haley Mullaney (Decatur) aces for a 3-0 lead, but UNT answered with six straight points to move in front 6-3. After North Texas led 11-9, the Lions put together a 5-1 stretch behind two
Sediong Scott (Houston – Elsik) kills and two more Mullaney aces to take a 14-12 lead.
The set tightened again as the Mean Green moved ahead 17-15 and the teams traded points until a North Texas service error put the Lions back in front 21-20.
Samantha Mosley (Atlanta) followed with a kill, Brown and Scott combined on a block, Mullaney served another ace, and Brown finished the set with a kill for a 25-20 Lions win.
UNT built an early 7-3 lead in the second set before the Lions worked back into it. The Lions pulled even at 12-12 on a Brown kill and service ace, and after North Texas went back in front 13-12, the Lions moved ahead on a Mean Green service error, a block by Mosley and
Sabine Wenzel (Melrose, Mass.) and a
Semaj Cox (Missouri City – Elkins) ace.
The Lions stretched the advantage to 19-14 with kills from Mosley, a
Katelyn Pritchard (McAllen) ace and two Mean Green attack errors, but North Texas later cut the margin to 23-22. Mosley answered with a kill to reach set point, and Brown closed the set with a service ace for a 25-22 Lions win.
Mullaney opened the third set with a service ace, but North Texas moved ahead 8-2. The Lions steadied the set with kills from
Gracie Campbell (Klein Oak) and Scott and a
Jade Washington (Waco – Midway) ace, cutting the gap to 12-7, before the Mean Green pushed back to 18-10. After Wenzel's kill and two UNT attack errors helped the Lions get to 19-13, North Texas answered with kills 22-13.
Allie Ihloff (Tulsa, Okla.) and Wenzel combined on a block, Scott and Brown added late kills, and an attacking error brought the Lions within 24-18 before a service error ended the set at 25-18 for North Texas.
The Lions stayed even early, tying the fourth set at 3-3 on a Mean Green bad set and again at 4-4 on a North Texas attack error, but the Mean Green moved ahead 8-4. After Wenzel and Pritchard had kills for the Lions, North Texas put together another stretch, scoring six straight to go from 11-6 to 17-6. Brown and Mosley added kills for the Lions, and Mullaney later made it 23-10, but UNT closed the set on a 25-10 result.
After an early service error brought the Lions even at 1-1, North Texas moved ahead 4-1. Wenzel, Brown and Campbell had kills as the Lions worked back within 6-4 and later 9-6, but UNT kept answering to push the margin to 12-7. The Lions got as close as 13-9 after a Mean Green attack error, before Alessandra Romo's service ace closed the fifth set for North Texas, 15-9.
Brown recorded 10 kills, 11 digs and two service aces. Brown has recorded 10 or more kills in 13 consecutive matches. Mullaney finished with 19 assists, six service aces, and 10 digs. Mullaney was named to the all-tournament team for the UNT Invitational and recorded a career-high of six serve aces.
Washington collected a team-high 16 digs and added four assists. Scott tallied five blocks, including two solo blocks, and added four kills. Scott's two solo blocks surpassed her season average of 0.25.
East Texas A&M served up 12 aces in the match, while Pritchard recorded career-best 12 assists, Wenzel had three or more blocks for the 12
th consecutive match, and Mosley surpassed her season average with three blocks.
The Lions were searching for their first win over the Mean Green in four tries over the past four seasons, but fall to 6-7 overall, having lost four overall and six of their last seven. The Mean Green went 2-1 at their home tournament this week, improving to 7-4 overall. Saturday was the final non-conference match for both teams.
UP NEXT
The Lions travel to face UIW to begin Southland Conference play on Thursday at 6 p.m. in San Antonio.
-ETAMU-
