Led by a dominant effort from junior Sh'Diamond Holly and some resiliency in the opening two sets, the North Texas women's volleyball team opened the 2022 North Texas Invitational with a 3-0 sweep of Jacksonville University, winning the match 29-27, 25-23, 25-12 to give first year head coach Kristee Porter her first victory with the Mean Green.
UNT finished the day by dropping a 3-0 decision at the hands of UNLV to complete the first day of the tournament with a split.
Holly, who came to UNT after a strong three-year career at the University of New Orleans, finished the opening match hitting .591 while also adding five total blocks and a service error to lead the Mean Green to a first season-opening win.
The Mean Green fell behind in each of the first two sets, trailing by as many as six in the first and five in the second. They rallied from behind in both, however, and then added an exclamation point in the third and final set, scoring the first eight points and cruising to a 13-point victory.
UNT also got strong offensive efforts from Treyaunna Rush and Aryn Johnson, who finished with nine and eight kills, respectively. Johnson, a Second Team All-Southland Conference performer at McNeese State last season, also added seven digs and a team-high three service aces.
The two-setter system of Ceci Harness and Lauren Phillips combined for 36 total assists, eight digs and three aces in the match while senior Aleeyah Galdeira led the team defensively with a match-high 12 digs.
In the second match, the Mean Green got a match-high nine kills by Rush who hit .250 in the contest as well as a solid six-kill, five-block effort from Truli Levy.
UNT was able to hang tough against the Rebels, scoring at least 20 points in all three sets, but ultimately fell 25-21, 25-20, 25-22.
North Texas will return to the court Saturday with the final contest of the North Texas Invite as they take on UT-Rio Grande Valley at 2:00 p.m. inside the UNT Volleyball Center.
Original source can be found here.
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