Volleyball News

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Gregory Leads North Texas Past Grambling State, 3-0

DENTON - The North Texas women’s volleyball team (11-12) won its fourth consecutive match Tuesday night, cruising to a 3-0 (30-8, 30-10, 30-23) victory over Grambling State (8-18) in a non-conference match at the Snake Pit.

It took North Texas just one hour and five minutes to put the Lady Tigers away in match that was dominated by the Mean Green’s serving game and relentless offensive attack. Led by freshman Brittney Gregory’s school-record 10 service aces and match-high 11 kills, North Texas piled up 19 aces (6.3 per game) and 50 kills (16.6 per game). The Mean Green’s 19 aces ties the school record, originally set in 1997.

"We attacked them with the serve and didn’t let up" said North Texas head coach Cassie Headrick. "It was nice that we were able to put the ball where we wanted to."

The Mean Green posted at least a .533 hitting percentage in the first two games as it handed Grambling State double-figure losses in each one. North Texas managed just a .128 hitting percentage in the third game, but still finished the match with a .356 percentage. Ahead two games to none and clearly in control of the match, North Texas had the luxury of being able to adjust its lineup in the third game and give a number of players some significant action on the court. For the entire match, 13 different North Texas players got a chance to contribute and all did with at least one kill, ace, assist or dig.

"I thought we came out focused and did a good job the first two games," said Headrick. "We changed our lineup in the third game and mixed some things up with our personnel. It was nice to be able to rest some players, but more than that we didn’t want to suffer an injury in the middle of our conference schedule," said Headrick.

Gregory achieved her first career double-double in odd fashion with double-digit kills and service aces. She also produced a .429 hitting percentage and had three blocks. Six players for North Texas had at least five kills and four had at least five digs. North Texas’ all-time kill leader, Corina Marginas, only played in the first game but produced a 1.000 hitting percentage with five kills and no errors in five attempts. Brieanne Fowler had a match-high 10 digs to lead a North Texas defense that held the Lady Tigers to a -.025 hitting percentage. Kristin Sheppard had a match-high 33 assists.

Not only has North Texas won its last four matches, it has also swept its last three opponents and won its last 11 games in a row. Its four-match winning streak is the longest since putting together seven consecutive victories in 1995. The Mean Green has now shut-out seven opponents this season, also the most since recording nine in 1995.

The Mean Green will resume Sun Belt Conference play this Friday when they host Florida International at 7 p.m.