UNT Volleyball Beats SMU
DALLAS – The North Texas volleyball team gutted out a 3-0 win over cross-town rival SMU to tie the school record for wins in Wednesday’s season finale (29-27, 26-24, 25-21).
The Mean Green (26-12) overcame 20 attack errors and a marathon first set to knock off the Mustangs (10-20) for the first time since 1996 – snapping a 10 match SMU win streak over NT. The victory closes out one of the best seasons in school history, which included the program’s first trip to the Sun Belt Tournament finals.
“We were behind in both of the first two sets, and came back to close them out,” said North Texas head coach Ken Murczek. “We didn’t play our best volleyball, but we still made enough plays to win. Not many folks get to finish their season win a win, so this certainly is a special way to close out a great year.”
Defense won the day for the Mean Green, and Shelby Tamura was the lynchpin in NT’s efforts with a match-high 26 digs. The sophomore posted 642 digs in 2012, which are second only in NT history to Jessica Hulsebosch’s school-record 675 digs in 2006.
Tamura isn’t the only NT player to find her way into the program’s record books. Courtney Windham and Karissa Flack, who tallied a match-high four blocks, finished the season ranked third and sixth in school history in total blocks with 170 and 125, respectively.
The Sun Belt Freshman of the Year, Carnae Dillard, led the Mean Green with 13 kills against the Mustangs, which upped her 2012 total to 552 kills – fourth most ever by a North Texas player, and the most by a freshman.
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