UNT Volleyball Run Ends In Semifinal Loss To MTSU

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MIAMI – After upsetting the Sun Belt West Division champs, the North Texas volleyball team’s Sun Belt Tournament run came to an end in a semifinal loss to No. 2 Middle Tennessee, 3-0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-20).

Playing it its second consecutive Sun Belt Tournament semifinals, the Mean Green (17-17) fell to a hot-hitting Blue Raiders (20-10) squad that peppered the U.S. Century Bank Arena floor with .443 hitting – the highest attack percentage by an NT opponent since Western Kentucky hit .485 on Nov. 14, 2004.

Maria Szivos led the MTSU attacking efforts with 15 kills on .462 hitting, while Oyinlola Oladinni tallied 11 kills on .714.

In each of the last two seasons North Texas was able to pull off an upset in the first round – both times over Arkansas State – only to be stopped by the Blue Raiders. Eboni Godfrey once again reached double-figure kills for the Mean Green with 12 kills on .226 hitting.

With 383 on the year, Godfrey finishes the year as the first freshman since Corina Marginas in 2000 to lead NT in total kills.

At 17-17 on the year, North Texas has now posted back-to-back .500 seasons or better for the first time since the founding of the program in 1976 and 1977. The Mean Green posted one of the nation’s biggest turnarounds in racking up a 20-13 record in 2010.

MTSU pulled away from an early 7-3 lead with a 5-0 run that all but put the first frame in the bag. North Texas led only briefly at 1-0 before the Blue Raiders took over the second set as well. The Blue Raiders hit .509 as a team over the first two sets.

The Mean Green rallied in the third set to close the MTSU gap to three points at 21-18, but it was too little too late.