North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 18, Ed. 1 Tuesday, October 9, 2012 Page: 4 of 6
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Page 4
Sports
Tuesday, October 9,2012
Joshua Friemel, Sports Editor
joshuafriemel@my.unt.edu
vnrnw V
Photo by James Coreas/Visuals Editor
The Mean Green women's volleyball team erupts in excitement after scoring Sunday afternoon at the Mean Green
Volleyball Center. The Mean Green dominated Middle Tennessee, making it the first win against MT since 2006.
JNT splits weekend series,
tied for third in SBC play
Volleyball
Tim Cato
Staff Writer
This weekend provided two
of the toughest challenges for
the Mean Green (18-7, 4-2) this
year, facing perennial Sun Belt
Conference powerhouses Western
Kentucky (20-3, 6-0) and Middle
Tennessee (5-16,2-4).
UNT has not had success
against either program in recent
years, last beating the teams
in 2008 and 2006, respectively.
Although unsuccessful against
Western Kentucky, the Mean
Green was able to end an eight-
game losing streak to Middle
Tennessee.
Friday
The age-old question of offense
versus defense was brought to
the forefront against WKU.
The Hilltoppers, ranked No. 20
in the nation, lead the Sun Belt
Conference in kills and hitting
percentage, while UNT is first
in blocks and opposing hitting
percentage.
Western Kentucky's offense
won out, proving too much to
handle for the Mean Green in a
three set sweep (16-25,18-25,21-25).
Junior middle blocker Courtney
Windham said her team could
have executed better.
"I don't think [Western
Kentucky] was too good, I think
[we weren't] performing the
way we usually do," she said.
"Obviously, they're a good team.
The fact that we didn't perform
like we usually do hindered us."
Service errors and simple
miscommunications hampered
the Mean Green in the first two
sets, and though it finally found
a rhythm for stretches of the final
set, it was too little, too late.
"I thought we had good
rhythm at the end of the match,"
head coach Ken Murczek said.
"Unfortunately, we dug ourselves
a 0-2 hole, and it's tough to come
back [from that]."
Windham led the team with 12
kills, but the Sun Belt blocks leader
notched just two for the game
against the powerful Western
Kentucky offense.
Sunday
UNT recovered from Friday's
loss on Sunday, taking care of busi-
ness against Middle Tennessee
(25-19,25-20,25-18).
Despite winning the first two
sets, Murczek said his team was
not playing their best volleyball
headed into intermission.
"I felt like we were pretty
casual, just letting them make an
error instead of grabbing it by the
horns and going," Murczek said.
"Instead of seeing what's going to
happen, let's dictate what's going
to happen."
The Mean Green came out in
the third set on a 9-2 run and never
allowed an overwhelmed Middle
Tennessee squad to come back.
"We needed to stop playing
around with this team and
defeat them like we knew how,"
freshman outside hitter Carnae
Dillard said. "Just play our game,
step up our defensive effort and
play hard."
Dillard was the match leader
with 13 kills, part of hitting .340
percent on the night for the Mean
Green. The defense showed up,
too, as five different UNT players
posted six or more digs,
The weekend split puts UNT,
Arkansas State and Troy in a
three-way tie for third place in the
Sun Belt Conference. The Mean
Green defeated Arkansas State
in three sets on Sept. 28th, and
will go on the road to face Troy
this Friday.
Soccer team no longer
unde eated in Sun Belt
Soccer
Ryne Gannoe
Senior Staff
The Mean Green women's
soccer team remains unbeaten
in conference play, but not
unblemished after this
weekend. After winning the
first game against Florida
Atlantic 2-1 Friday, UNT
failed to put away a Florida
International team it outshot
31-7 Sunday.
Because of UNT's location,
it doesn't have a conference
travel partner. Other Sun Belt
teams travel to Denton with
only one game slated for the
weekend. In its second game of
each weekend, the Mean Green
plays against a team that hasn't
played yet that week.
Head coach John Hedlund
said he is frustrated by the Sun
Belt format.
"The biggest problem is we
have to play on Fridays, and
all these other teams rest,"
Hedlund said. "Our legs are
weary, and we're not getting
the strong shots we need to put
the ball in the back of the net."
After the draw, UNT finds
itself ranked second in the
Sun Belt standings behind still
undefeated Middle Tennessee.
Friday
Freshmen made the differ-
ence for the Mean Green in
the first game of the weekend-
Freshman goalkeeper Haley
Riley got her first start in goal
for the Mean Green. Riley held
FAU scoreless for the first 45
minutes.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Jackie Kerestine, who started
the second half, didn't start the
game because she was dealing
with headaches, the result of
a collision in an earlier game,
Hedlund said.
Freshman midfielder Karla
Pineda, who leads the team
with six assists, scored her fifth
goal of the season to put UNT
up 1-0.
After an FAU header tied
the game, freshman midfielder
3
Photo by Hannah Meyer/Staff Photographer
Freshman midfielder Karla Pineda defends the ball Sunday afternoon at the
Mean Green Village. Pineda scored her sixth goal of the season Sunday against
Florida International, putting her at the top of the total points list for the team.
Leah Cox responded with a header
of her own to record the first goal
of her collegiate career.
Sunday
Hedlund said that he was not
happy with the draw.
While UNT created many
scoring opportunities, it was FED
who struck first.
The Jaguars' Scarlett Montoya
scored 17 minutes into the second
half off a cross from Chelsea Levi a.
Forty-five seconds later, UNT's
Pineda dribbled past two defenders
and put one past FIU keeper.
"It's disappointing to get a tie
at home," junior defender Alison
Guderian said. "We still keep our
undefeated record, but now we
need to concentrate more on the
games ahead."
The Mean Green has been
playing without starting junior
defender Tori Adame because
of injury. Adame not only is an
important part of the defense, on
offense, she takes the team's corner
kicks when she's in.
"Shelly [Holt] and Ally
[Guderian] usually split time,"
Kerestine said. "They're not used
to playing the whole time together.
And neither of them are left-footed
players, so it's a whole new adjust-
ment for them."
Freshman midfielder Lindsey
Hulstein said the team needs to
refocus on the last four remaining
conference games
"We dominated. We got
chances. We just didn't put them
away," Hulstein said. "We have to
put ourselves in the moment and
realize that if you don't capitalize
on it, you might not get another
chance."
Mean Green 2-4 halfway through Sun Belt season finale
Football
Tyler Owens
Senior StaffWriter
Halfway through the season,
the Mean Green stands at 2-4
overall and 1-1 in Sun Belt
Conference play, an identical
record to where the program was
at this point last year.
In the sixth game of the season
on Saturday, the Mean Green
could not overcome the high-
powered, quick-striking offense
of the in-state rival Houston
Cougars, falling 44-21 on the
road.
"We never really got control
of that game with our defense,"
head coach Dan McCarney said.
"I thought they dictated the
action with their offense and
we were just reacting all night
long, and it was a slow reaction to
the things that they were doing."
Llouston's redshirt sopho-
more quarterback David Piland
dominated the Mean Green for
321 yards through the air, and
running back redshirt junior
Charles Sims demonstrated why
he will, most likely, one day enter
the NFL as he racked up 210
yards on 21 carries on the night.
"We didn't play Mean Green
defense," junior linebacker
Zachary Orr said. "The missed
tackles were unacceptable."
The 44 points allowed
by the Mean Green were the
most allowed since UNT fell
to Houston last season 48-23 in
Apogee Stadium's home opener.
The Cougar offense scored on
eight of its 11 possessions on the
night, converted 35 first downs
and didn't ease up on offense
after gaining the lead.
"That's the way their offense is,
the short game, so we just didn't
execute," redshirt freshman
defensive back Zac Whitfield
said. "They were building
their confidence up against our
defense."
So far, this season has been a
roller coaster for UNT The team
dropped its opener against then-
No. 3 Louisiana State then surged
for 34 points against a much
weaker Texas Southern team.
After that, UNT showed
some life in a shootout with the
currently undefeated Kansas
State Wildcats, which gave them
confidence heading into their
first SBC game against Troy, a
game the Mean Green would
lose 14-7.
The Mean Green rebounded
and took down Florida Atlantic
to pull even in the conference,
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but failed to wrap up a second
straight victory Saturday against
Houston (2-3).
This season, the top offen-
sive performers include redshirt
junior quarterback Derek
Thompson has 1,245 passing
yards, and junior wide receiver
Brelan Chancellor has caught
the ball 23 times for five of
Thompson's six passing touch-
downs.
The offensive line and rushing
game continue to put on a clinic,
even with the loss of Lance
Dunbar who's now with the
Dallas Cowboys, as they have
gained 1,143 yards on the ground
for nine touchdowns.
The second half of the Mean
Green's final season in the SBC
is set to begi n Oct. 16 as the team
welcomes Louisiana-Lafayette
and a national TV audience into
Apogee for a game that will be
televised on ESPN2.
"[Houston] was a big test, and
we flunked the test and we've got
to come back and be much, much
better," McCarney said.
The next six games will be the
most crucial for UNT as all six
will be conference games, and
the team must win four out of
those six to become bowl eligible
for the first time since 2004.
Online Exclusive
The swimming and diving team
competed in two events over
the weekend in Arkansas. For
the first time in school history,
the team defeated Southern
Methodist University.
Read more at Q ntdaily.com
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Stratso, Chelsea. North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 18, Ed. 1 Tuesday, October 9, 2012, newspaper, October 9, 2012; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth291797/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.