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Saturday, September 25
Denton, TX
6:00 PM

University of North Texas

0
vs
3

Rice

Levy vs. UTA 2020-21
Photo by: Manny Flores

Mean Green drop conference opener against Rice

9/25/2021 9:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Rematch tomorrow at 2 p.m.


DENTON, Texas — North Texas volleyball opened conference play with a three-set loss (25-27, 17-25, 20-25) to No. 34 Rice at home. The Mean Green led the way in blocking to the tune of 9-3.

The match started well for the home squad, jumping out to a 6-1 lead as sophomore Truli Levy had a hand in the team's first five points before the Owls made a run of their own. After trailing 21-18, two straight kills by senior Rhett Robinson and a service ace by sophomore Sophia Hagstrom tied the set up. The two Conference USA foes traded points to 25-25 before Rice closed out the opening frame. UNT head coach Andrew Palileo said he can always count on his outside hitter to keep the team in the game. 

"Rhett always does what she does for us," Palileo said.

The Owls started the second set 17-5 until a 4-0 run by the Mean Green slowed their pace. UNT eventually closed the lead to six before the end of the second set. 

The third frame looked more like the first, as the Mean Green gained a 6-4 lead from the jump. Rice then took a 12-9 lead and extended it to 16-11 before a 3-0 UNT run shut the celebration down. The two squads traded points before hitting each other with 4-0 runs to bring the third set score to 21-19, but the Owls rattled off four of the next five to take Saturday's win.

Despite the sweep, Palileo said there's hope heading into tomorrow's rematch.

"I thought we blocked pretty well today, and I thought we followed the game plan quite a bit," Palileo said. "I think we've just got to play a little bit smarter and more measured in the way we do things. In those moments when the match gets close, we've got to rely on everybody doing their jobs."

UNT will be back on its home court at 2:00 p.m. Sunday for the second matchup with Rice. For updates and more information, follow the Mean Green on Twitter and Instagram (@MeanGreenVB) and like Mean Green Volleyball on Facebook.