DRC: Volleyball NT tops alumni

OldTimer · August 29, 2004

Volleyball: UNT tops alumni

Mean Green tunes up for season opener

09:06 AM CDT on Sunday, August 29, 2004

By Matthew Postins / Staff Writer

The balance and depth was there. But it will take time for the North Texas volleyball team to figure out what to do with it.

At least that was the impression head coach Cassie Headrick gave after her Mean Green defeated the "Hazbens" in the program’s first alumni match at Snake Pit Gym on Saturday.

The Mean Green won, 30-22, 30-16, 30-19, 30-24, with four players — Brittney Gregory (12), Anne Pope (11), Katy Prokof (11) and Taylor Lawrence (10) — registering double-digit kills. The performance was emblematic of the options Headrick feels this team gives her.

But they were also sluggish at times, a result of blending six new freshmen and underclassmen with limited experience with the team’s top two returnees, Pope and Gregory.

"This is the first time we’ve played anyone besides ourselves in three weeks," said Pope. "We played all right, but we obviously have things to work on."

The Hazbens, a collection of former UNT volleyball players, were led by Tanya Samples, a 2002 graduate, who had 11 kills. The team also included the program’s all-time kills leader, Corina Marginas, and the all-time assists leader, Kristin Sheppard, both of whom graduated this past spring.

The Hazbens treated the match as serious fun, but the Mean Green treated it as serious for obvious reasons. The team has its season opener on Wednesday in Tulsa, and starting jobs are on the line.

Prokof, one of those six freshmen signees, quite possibly nailed down a starting job with her performance. She’s competing for an outside hitter spot, and Prokof looked quite comfortable on the floor all night, displaying her cannon for a right arm.

"I think it’s a start," said Prokof. "We haven’t had a chance to play any games together and we’re still trying to get our timing down."

Lawrence, who played little last season as a true freshman, displayed the improvement Headrick saw during spring and summer workouts, and Brooke Engel, another freshman, didn’t show any ill effects from a knee injury that has limited her the past week.

Headrick mixed up her lineups, but Heidi Johnson got three games at setter and responded with 33 assists. Ashley Bass, a freshman from Hurst Bell, had 12.

Saturday’s match served as UNT’s only scrimmage. They’ll have one more practice session before leaving for Tulsa on Tuesday afternoon. In all, UNT will play just one home match before the Sun Belt Conference opener in late September.

"We’re deep, and we’ve got a lot out there to choose from," said Headrick. "This is a starting point."

Briefly ...

Sophomore Ashley Hull sat out the scrimmage with a groin pull. Headrick said Hull will rest the next few days, and her status for the opener is uncertain.

MATTHEW POSTINS can be reached at 940-566-6874.