DENTON – Torrance Lovesee records match- and career-high of 20 kills in a tight five set match against North Texas Friday evening.
North Texas (11-13, 5-4 Conference USA) defeated UTEP (13-10, 7-3 C-USA) in five sets, 3-2 (15-25, 25-21, 17-25, 25-11, 19-21)
Hande Yetis (24) and Mattie Gantt (20) combined to put up 44 assists for the Miners and Hula Crisostomo had a team-high 14 digs.
The Miners held the statistical advantage in kills (50-49), service aces (14-7) and blocks (9-8) but were outhit .195 to .157.
SET ONE | North Texas jumped to a quick 5-0 lead in the opening set. The Miners had two-point spurts in between North Texas' big scoring runs, but the Mean Green continued to pull ahead and closed the first set 25-15.
SET TWO | UTEP drove a 9-1 run in the second set taking an 11-3 lead. North Texas rallied to close the deficit 17-16, but the Miners pulled off a set win with a kill and solo block by Lovesee to even the match, 25-21.
SET THREE | The Miners took a 5-2 lead, but the Mean Green came around with two scoring runs to take the lead 8-7. UTEP's attempt to tie up the set fell short as North Texas jumped to a four-point lead, 20-16. The Mean Green gave up one last kill to the Miners, before winning the set on a 5-0 run, 25-17.
SET FOUR | Early in the fourth set, the Miners forced two North Texas timeouts after taking a 12-6 lead that snowballed into a 9-1 run that consisted of three consecutive kills by Lovesee, 18-8. UNT's final points derived from three UTEP errors and a kill, but that didn't stop the Miners from holding the Mean Green at 25-11 to force a fifth set.
SET FIVE | The final set came down to the wire with massive pressure put on both teams. UTEP stretched the lead by three several times in the set. The Miners found themselves at match point 14-11, but North Texas drove a 4-0 run to take the lead forcing UTEP to sidebar. A ping-pong battle surfaced as the teams exchanged points, switching leads, but North Texas came out on top with the match win, 21-19.
UP NEXT
Miners take on No. 21 Rice on Sunday (Oct. 30) at 12 p.m. MT in Houston, Texas.
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