DENTON, Texas ? North Texas used a balanced offensive attack Sunday afternoon to defeat South Alabama 3-0 (24-30, 21-30 and 30-14) in Sun Belt Conference volleyball action at the North Texas Volleyball Center.
The loss drops the Lady Jags to 5-19 over all and 0-12 in conference action. The West Division leading Mean Green improves to 17-10 and 8-3 in the Sun Belt. USA will next close out the three-match road trip at in-state rival Troy on Oct. 28 at Noon, before returning to Mobile to take on Middle Tennessee on Nov. 3, at 7 p.m.
The Mean Green broke an early 5-5 tie in the opener with a five point spurt to increase its lead to 10-5. South Alabama continued to battle back and after a block assists from Lauren Robbins and Brittany Blackwelder, the Jags cut the deficit to 11-10. Still leading by one two points later, North Texas’ Katy Prokof started a 10-3 run for the Mean Green to stretch the lead out to eight at 22-14. The UNT run was capped off by three straight aces from Brooke Engel. The Jag women continued to battle down the stretch and after a service ace from Robbins, USA trimmed the margin to 27-23. North Texas did not allow the Jags to get any closer though and took the opener 30-24.
North Texas again used a run to break an early tie in the second game of the match. Tied at 7-7, UNT’s Brittany Gregory ignited a 7-1 run that gave the host a six point advantage (14-8). Two points later, it was USA’s turn to answer back with a scoring spurt of its own, this one a 5-1 run to cut the deficit to one at 16-15. The Jaguar run was finished off by a block assists from Jennifer Johnson and Jenna Swilley. The block assists for Johnson was her third during the South Alabama run. North Texas’ Gregory had the answer for the Mean Green and after a UNT time out, the senior middle blocker posted back-to-back kills to stretch the lead back out to three. USA the rest of the way was unable to get any closer and eventually dropped game three 30-21.
Leading 2-0 in the match, North Texas came out and reeled off nine of the first 10 points of the finale to take complete control. A kill and an ace from Kalyn Hundley cut the deficit to 12-7, but UNT responded with another run, this time a 6-0 spurt to give the Mean Green an 18-7 advantage. The Mean Green went on to lead by as many as 17 (27-10) before taking the match with the 30-14 victory.
South Alabama was led offensively by Robbins', a Texas native, who recorded a team-high 10 kills. North Texas placed three players in double digit kills led by Tara Hooser and Prokof, who each had a match-high 11 kills.
